Rethinking Parkinson’s: The Somato-Cognitive Action Network (SCAN) hypothesis

About this episode

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Hesheng Liu about a new hypothesis regarding Parkinson's disease as a somato-cognitive action network disorder.

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Hesheng Liu about his recent Nature paper proposing a major conceptual shift: Parkinson’s disease as a somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) disorder. Together they discuss how a large multimodal dataset suggests a characteristic pattern of hyperconnectivity between SCAN cortical areas and subcortical nuclei in Parkinson’s disease, how this signature changes with effective therapies, and why personalized SCAN targeting may help refine non-invasive stimulation and circuit-guided interventions. The conversation explores implications for biomarkers, patient-specific targeting, and key unanswered questions that will shape the next generation of studies. Read the article.

People in this episode

Host: Michele Matarazzo

Guest: Prof Hesheng Liu

Topics covered

• Parkinson's disease
• somato-cognitive action network
• hyperconnectivity
• personalized targeting
• biomarkers

Keywords

• Nature paper
• multimodal dataset
• effective therapies
• non-invasive stimulation
• circuit-guided interventions

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