SUMMARY
The research program led by David T. Jones, M.D., focuses on approaching neurodegenerative diseases that affect patients' perception, cognition and action from the perspective of large-scale brain systems most closely associated with those mental functions. This involves extensive use of advanced neuroimaging techniques and dense clinical phenotyping. He has proposed a complex systems model for cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology, the cascading network failure model, that integrates micro- and macroscale features of the disease.
Dr. Jones is also developing a global information processing model for mental functions that links neuroanatomy, cognitive neuroscience and clinical neurology. This model allows for the development of novel diagnostics and prognostic tools that inform neuromodulatory strategies for cognitive aging and treatment of neurogenerative diseases of perception, cognition and action. This work also informs his development of artificial intelligence (AI) strategies to improve the practice of neurology at Mayo Clinic and around the world.
Focus areas
- AD. Dr. Jones is an investigator in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Mayo Clinic, where he enrolls patients with neurodegenerative diseases in clinical trials and observational studies that inform the natural history, clinical biomarkers, pathology, genetics and neurobiology of these conditions.
- Dysexecutive AD. Dr. Jones has developed diagnostic criteria for dysexecutive AD, a form of Alzheimer's disease that targets executive function. The criteria allows for better clinical management of this form of AD and related disorders exhibiting executive dysfunction.
- Early-onset AD. Dr. Jones leads studies designed to better understand and treat adults with early-onset AD, which is defined as the onset of symptoms in patients younger than 65 years old.
- Biomarkers and models of large-scale functional neurodynamics. Dr. Jones works with investigators in the functional neurodynamics field to develop biomarkers and models of large-scale functional neurodynamics with an emphasis on the network failure quotient and the global functional state space.
- AI. Dr. Jones leads a team of researchers developing AI to improve the practice of neurology. In addition to developing the general infrastructure for enablement of these technologies, Dr. Jones' team is working on full-stack cloud-based solutions for digital diagnostics and management using a variety of physiologically relevant data sources, such as brain images, electrophysiology and voice, for the clinical practice of neurology.
Significance to patient care
Dr. Jones develops disease models and methods to produce new diagnostic and treatment approaches for brain aging and degeneration of perception, cognition and action in AD and related disorders. His work in AI is broadly focused on developing digital diagnostic and management platforms that can scale expert neurological knowledge to wherever and whenever it is needed to provide better care for patients with neurological conditions.