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Functional connectome harmonics capture early brain organization and maturity in neonates

Overview

Authors: Aylin Rosberg1,2,3,4, Isabella L. C. Mariani Wigley5,6,1,2, Aaron Barron1,2, Ilkka Suuronen1,2,3, Harri Merisaari7,8,1,2, Elmo P. Pulli1,2,3, Silja Luotonen1,2,9, Ru Li1,10, Wajiha Bano1,2, Ashmeet Jolly1,2,11,12, Hilyatushalihah Kholis Audah1,2,3,13, Niloofar Hashempour1,2,3, Elena Vartiainen1,2,3, Hasse Karlsson1,2,3, Linnea Karlsson1,2,14,15, Richard A. I. Bethlehem4, Jakob Seidlitz16,17,18,19, Jakub Vohryzek20,21, Joana Cabral22, Dafnis Batalle23,24, Morten L. Kringelbach20, Selen Atasoy1,20, Jetro J. Tuulari5,6,1,2,3,20,25,4
ORCID iDs: Aylin Rosberg, Isabella L. C. Mariani Wigley, Aaron Barron, Ilkka Suuronen, Harri Merisaari, Elmo P. Pulli, Silja Luotonen, Ashmeet Jolly, Hilyatushalihah Kholis Audah, Niloofar Hashempour, Elena Vartiainen, Hasse Karlsson, Linnea Karlsson, Richard A. I. Bethlehem, Dafnis Batalle, Jetro J. Tuulari
25 affiliations
  1. FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Turku Brain and Mind Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  2. Centre for Population Health Research, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  4. Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  5. Clinical Neurosciences, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  6. Neurocenter, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  7. Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  8. Department of Radiology, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  9. Department of Pediatric Neurology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  10. Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  11. Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
  12. Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  13. Centre of Excellence in Learning Dynamics and Intervention Research (InterLearn), University of Jyväskylä and University of Turku, Finland
  14. Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, Finland
  15. Department of Clinical Medicine, Unit of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland
  16. Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
  17. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
  18. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
  19. Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
  20. Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, Linacre College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  21. Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
  22. Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa) and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal
  23. Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience; King’s College London, London, UK
  24. Research Department of Early Life Imaging; School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences; King’s College London, London, UK
  25. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Institutions: University of Turku (Finland); Turku University Hospital (Finland); University of Cambridge (United Kingdom); Aarhus University (Denmark); King's College London (United Kingdom); University of Jyväskylä (Finland); Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (United States); University of Pennsylvania (United States); University of Oxford (United Kingdom); Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain); Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal); University of Lisbon (Portugal)
Journal: bioRxiv (preprint)
Dates: published online 25 March 2026
Type: Preprint
License: CC BY-NC
Identifiers: DOI 10.64898/2026.03.25.714150 · OpenAlex W7140550918
Open access: green, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code verified (how the code is found and verified)
Categories: fMRI (modality), human (organism), developmental (subfield)
Methods: Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Connectivity, Preprocessing, fMRI & imaging
Keywords: Functional Connectome Harmonics, Neonatal Brain Gradients, Resting-state fMRI, Neurodevelopmental Biomarkers
Topic: Functional Brain Connectivity Studies (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: European Research Council (319456)
Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 53 references in the paper

Abstract

The functional organization of the human brain is established early, yet the ontogeny of its large-scale functional gradients remains unclear. Using resting-state fMRI data from 714 neonates in the Developing Human Connectome Project, we mapped neonatal brain gradients via functional connectome harmonics (FCH). We identified adult-like sensory-to-multimodal and cognitive gradient patterns present at birth. Applying three FCH-derived metrics—entropy, power, and energy—we found that power and energy were higher in term-born compared to preterm neonates, while entropy was elevated in preterms. These metrics predicted up to ~30% of postmenstrual age, indicating their biological relevance. Our findings reveal that the neonatal brain possesses a robust gradient architecture underpinning early functional organization, offering novel biomarkers for assessing brain maturity and the impact of prematurity on neurodevelopment.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.

git.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/seanf/dhcp-neonatal-fmri-pipeline

License: none: the authors keep all their rights
State: the link answers, verified on 30 September 2026
Evidence: the link answers
Software Heritage: not checked
Found in: “Code and data availability”
Not found: README, license file, CITATION.cff, environment file, tests, continuous integration, documentation
Availability: 1 check, the latest on 30 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
  • 30 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
At the source: git.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/seanf/dhcp-neonatal-fmri-pipeline/-/tree/master

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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  • 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
  • 0 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
  • no match between paragraphs and code yet;
  • neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.

Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Code and data availability

The data used in this study were obtained from the Developing Human Connectome Project (dHCP). dHCP data are available through the dHCP data repository: https://nda.nih.gov/edit_collection.html?id=3955

All code used to preprocess the fMRI data have been made available here: https://git.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/seanf/dhcp-neonatal-fmri-pipeline/-/tree/master

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, journal, dates, 23 authors, 4 keywords, 1 funder, 50 references.

Cite

This paper

Rosberg, A., Mariani Wigley, I. L. C., Barron, A., Suuronen, I., Merisaari, H., Pulli, E. P., Luotonen, S., Li, R., Bano, W., Jolly, A., Audah, H. K., Hashempour, N., Vartiainen, E., Karlsson, H., Karlsson, L., Bethlehem, R. A. I., Seidlitz, J., Vohryzek, J., Cabral, J., . . . Tuulari, J. J. (2026). Functional connectome harmonics capture early brain organization and maturity in neonates. bioRxiv (preprint). https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.25.714150

BibTeX

@article{rosberg2026functional,
author = {Rosberg, Aylin and Mariani Wigley, Isabella L. C. and Barron, Aaron and Suuronen, Ilkka and Merisaari, Harri and Pulli, Elmo P. and Luotonen, Silja and Li, Ru and Bano, Wajiha and Jolly, Ashmeet and Audah, Hilyatushalihah Kholis and Hashempour, Niloofar and Vartiainen, Elena and Karlsson, Hasse and Karlsson, Linnea and Bethlehem, Richard A. I. and Seidlitz, Jakob and Vohryzek, Jakub and Cabral, Joana and Batalle, Dafnis and Kringelbach, Morten L. and Atasoy, Selen and Tuulari, Jetro J.},
title = {{Functional connectome harmonics capture early brain organization and maturity in neonates}},
journal = {bioRxiv (preprint)},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
publisher = {bioRxiv},
issn = {2692-8205},
doi = {10.64898/2026.03.25.714150},
url = {https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.25.714150}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Rosberg, Aylin
AU - Mariani Wigley, Isabella L. C.
AU - Barron, Aaron
AU - Suuronen, Ilkka
AU - Merisaari, Harri
AU - Pulli, Elmo P.
AU - Luotonen, Silja
AU - Li, Ru
AU - Bano, Wajiha
AU - Jolly, Ashmeet
AU - Audah, Hilyatushalihah Kholis
AU - Hashempour, Niloofar
AU - Vartiainen, Elena
AU - Karlsson, Hasse
AU - Karlsson, Linnea
AU - Bethlehem, Richard A. I.
AU - Seidlitz, Jakob
AU - Vohryzek, Jakub
AU - Cabral, Joana
AU - Batalle, Dafnis
AU - Kringelbach, Morten L.
AU - Atasoy, Selen
AU - Tuulari, Jetro J.
TI - Functional connectome harmonics capture early brain organization and maturity in neonates
T2 - bioRxiv (preprint)
J2 - bioRxiv
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/03/25
SN - 2692-8205
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.03.25.714150
UR - https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.25.714150
ER -

CSL-JSON

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