Learning Macroscopic Brain Connectomes via Group-Sparse Factorization

Mapping structural brain connectomes for living human brains typically requires expert analysis and rule-based models on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. A data-driven approach, however, could overcome limitations in such rule-based approaches and improve precision mappings for individuals. In this work, we explore a framework that facilitates applying learning algorithms to automatically extract brain connectomes. Using a tensor encoding, we design an objective with a group-regularizer that prefers biologically plausible fascicle structure. We show that the objective is convex and has unique solutions, ensuring identifiable connectomes for an individual.