Personalised Brain “Growth Charts” for Dementia: Stratifying Subtypes and Predicting Outcomes in Real-World Clinical Data

Why this project matters: Early and accurate detection of brain disorders is difficult because each person’s brain ages differently, and methods based on group averages can miss important changes in an individual, delaying the right care.

What the project will do: We will analyse thousands of anonymised brain scans from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Image Bank to build clear reference maps of healthy brain ageing, similar to growth charts in paediatrics, and then compare each person’s scan to these maps to flag unusual changes sooner, link them with health and life factors, and guide more precise diagnosis and prognosis, starting with dementia and expanding to other brain and mental health conditions.