Portrait of Sylvain Baillet

Sylvain Baillet

Associate Academic Member
sylvain.baillet@mila.quebec
Full professor, Université de Montréal, Department of neurosciences
McGill University
Research Topics
AI and Healthcare
AI for Science
Applied AI
Applied Machine Learning
Brain-inspired AI
Cognition
Computational Neuroscience
Consciousness
Dynamical Systems
NeuroAI
Website
Google Scholar

Publications

Cortical microstructural integrity predicts an exploitation bias in older adulthood
Patrick Hewan
Alfie Wearn
Jeremy Hogeveen
Kayla Williams
R Nathan Spreng
Gary R. Turner
Sylvia Villeneuve
Judes Poirier
John C S Breitner
Sylvain Baillet
Andrée-Ann Baril
Bellec Pierre
Véronique Bohbot
Danilo Bzdok
Mallar Chakravarty
D Louis Collins
Mahsa Dadar
Simon Ducharme
Alan Evans
Claudine Gauthier … (see 80 more)
Maiya R Geddes
Rick Hoge
Yasser Ituria‐Medina
Gerhard Multhaup
Lisa-Marie Münter
Natasha Rajah
Pedro Rosa-Neto
Taylor Schmitz
Soucy Jp
Nathan Spreng
Christine Tardif
Etienne Vachon-Presseau
Mohammadali Javanray
Meishan Ai
Philippe Amouyel
Nicholas Ashton
Gabriel Aumont‐Rodrigue
Julie Bailly
Guilia Baracchini
Kaj Blennow
Christian Bocti
Lianne Boisvert
Sophie Boutin
Ann Brinkmalm Westman
A P Dagher
Xing Dai
Samir Das
Marina Dauar‐Tedeschi
Louis De Beaumont
Christine Déry
Maxime Descoteaux
Elena Drobotea
M Elie
Alfonso Fajardo Valdez
Vladimir Fonov
David Morgan
Jonathan Gallago
Greco Cr
Louise Hudon
Gabriel Jean
Anne Labonté
Robert Laforce
Marc Lalancette
Jean-Charles Lambert
Jeannie‐Marie Leoutsakos
Danaé Lussier Dumouchel
B Misic
Béry Mohammediyan
Holly NewboldFox
Eugenia Nita Capota
Alix Noly‐Gandon
Adrian Eduardo Noriega de la Colina
Pierre Orban
Valentin Ourry
Cynthia Picard
Alexa Pichet Binette
A. L. Poirier
Nathalie Prenevost
Ting Qiu
Marc James Quesnel
Charles Ramassamy
Jean‐Michel Raoult
Jordana Remz
Safa Sanami
Frederic St‐Onge
Cherie Strikwerda‐Brown
Elisabeth Sylvain
Andràs Tikàsz
Christina Tremblay
Stefanie Tremblay
Jennifer Tremblay‐Mercier
Stéphanie Tullo
Irem Ulku
Paolo Vitali
Yara Yakoub
Robert Zatorre
Henrik Zetterberg
Pierre Bellec
Jean-Paul Soucy
Claudia Greco
OBJECTIVES: Prefrontal regions are implicated in explore-exploit decision-making during foraging. Older adults often show an exploitation bi… (see more)as, and this age period is also marked by deteriorating prefrontal myelination. To investigate whether these phenomena are linked, we examined whether lower magnetization transfer saturation (MTsat), a myelin-sensitive quantitative MRI (qMRI) measure, in these regions predicts greater exploitation bias during foraging, and whether cortical microstructure is a better predictor of bias than macrostructure (i.e., cortical thickness). METHODS: Cognitively healthy older adults with familial risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) (N=118, 60-88 years) completed a foraging task indexing explore-exploit decision-making. qMRI was used to derive MTsat values for the frontopolar cortex (FPC), medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), rostral middle frontal gyrus (rMFG), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), as well as the locus coeruleus (LC), a core subcortical region strongly implicated in explore-exploit decision-making. Secondary analyses examined associations between available AD risk markers and foraging. RESULTS: Lower MTsat in the FPC, OFC, rMFG, and LC was associated with an exploitation bias, with LC and FPC emerging as the strongest predictors. No relationship was observed for the dACC. MTsat remained a significant predictor of foraging after controlling for cortical thickness. Observed associations were largely unrelated to AD risk markers. DISCUSSION: Individual differences in cortical microstructural integrity within a well-defined explore-exploit circuit are associated with an exploitative decision-making bias in older adults. These findings highlight the value of qMRI microstructural integrity markers, beyond standard macrostructural assays, in characterizing the neural correlates of exploitation biases in later life.
2026-07-22
Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences (published)
doi.org
Sex Differences in P-Tau217, Tau Aggregation, and Cognitive Decline
Gillian Coughlan
Valentin Ourry
Diana Townsend
Hannah M Klinger
Jane A. Brown
Madison Cuppels
Tobey Betthauser
Rebecca Langhough
Karly Alex Cody
Mabel Seto
Colin Birkenbihl
Annie Li
Michelle Farrell
Emma G. Thibault
Pia Kivisäkk Webb
S. R. Arnold
Robert A. Rissman
Michael Properzi
Aaron Schultz
Keith Johnson … (see 81 more)
Oliver Langford
Michael C. Donohue
Sylvia Villeneuve
Sterling C. Johnson
Hyun-Sik Yang
JoAnn E. Manson
Reisa Sperling
Rachel F. Buckley
Orest Hurko
Sanra E Black
Rachelle Doody
Murali Doraiswamy
Anthony Gamst
Jeffrey Kaye
Thomas Obisesan
Henry Rusinek
Doug Scharre
Reisa Sperling
Michael W Weiner
R. Green
Paul Aisen
Keith Johnson
Jason Karlawish
Kenneth Marek
Karen Holdridge
REMA RAMAN
R. Yaari
Cheryl Brown
John R. Sims
Robert A. Rissman
Michael C. Donohue
Maria Arampatizdou
Jeremy Pizzola
Mike Rafii
Clifford Jack Jr.
Marybeth Howlett
John Seibyl
Isabella Velon
Paula Cohen
Gustavo Jimenez-Maggiora
Marianne Manire
James B. Brewer
Paul Maruff
Mark Mintun
Alison Belsha
Jennifer Salazar
Cecily Jenkins
Vedeline Torreon
Renarda Jones
Sylvia Villeneuve
Judes Poirier
John C.S. Breitner
Mohamed Badawy
Sylvain Baillet
Andrée‐Ann Baril
Bellec Pierre
Véronique D. Bohbot
Danilo Bzdok
Mallar Chakravarty
D. Louis Collins
Mahsa Dadar
Simon Ducharme
Alan C. Evans
Claudine Gauthier
Maiya Geddes
Rick Hoge
Yasser Ituria-Medina
Maxime Montembeault
Gerhard Multhaup
Lisa-Marie Münter
Alexa Pichet Binette
Natasha Rajah
Pedro Rosa-Neto
Taylor W. Schmitz
Jean-Paul Soucy
Nathan R Spreng
Christine Tardif
Etienne Vachon-Presseau
Christian Bocti
Maxime Descoteaux
Pierre Bellec
Importance: Among individuals with high levels of amyloid-β (Aβ), women exhibit higher insoluble tau burden and accumulation than age-matc… (see more)hed men. It remains unclear whether this sex difference is influenced by soluble phosphorylated tau (p-tau), a biomarker that changes early in Alzheimer disease. Objective: To investigate whether sex and aggregated Aβ synergistically predict plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) levels and whether levels of p-tau217 predict cross-sectional and longitudinal tau aggregation in a sex-specific manner (as measured by positron emission tomography [PET]). Design, Setting, and Participants: This longitudinal study analyzed data between September 7, 2024, and October 29, 2025, from 1 clinical trial cohort and 4 observational study cohorts including men and women without cognitive impairment who had undergone multiple assessments via tau PET (18F-flortaucipir or 18F-MK-6240) and plasma p-tau217 assay at baseline. Cognitive performance was measured with the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite. Data on cognitive performance were available from 3 of the 5 cohorts for a mean of 4.6 years (SD, 3.1 years). Across the 5 cohorts, the mean follow-up for tau PET was 3.6 years (SD, 1.7 years). Exposures: Self-reported sex (male or female), tau PET, and p-tau217 assay. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary analyses used linear and mixed-effects models to assess baseline and longitudinal sex × p-tau217 interactions for 9 tau PET regions. The secondary analyses assessed sex × p-tau217 interactions for cognitive change using the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite. Results: Across the 5 cohorts, there were a total of 1292 participants (63.6% women; mean age, 70.6 [SD, 6.4] years) with tau PET assessments. Compared with men, women had significantly higher baseline p-tau217 levels at higher aggregated Aβ Centiloid levels (β, -0.21 [95% CI, -0.37 to -0.05], P = .009; highest interaction was found in the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease/Longitudinal Evaluation of Amyloid Risk and Neurodegeneration [A4/LEARN] cohort). The sex × p-tau217 interactions at baseline were significant for 1 tau PET region in the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS) cohort, for 2 tau PET regions in the A4/LEARN cohort, for 6 tau PET regions in the Wisconsin Registry of Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP) cohort, and for 4 tau PET regions in the Presymptomatic Evaluation of Experimental or Novel Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease (PREVENT-AD) cohort. Longitudinal interactions were significant for 4 tau PET regions in the A4/LEARN cohort, for 5 tau PET regions in both the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort and the WRAP cohort, and for 2 PET regions in both the HABS cohort and the PREVENT-AD cohort. Compared with men, women displayed greater tau deposition and accumulation at higher p-tau217 levels. Use of a secondary model showed women with higher p-tau217 levels also exhibited faster rates of cognitive decline relative to men in the both the WRAP cohort and the ADNI cohort. Conclusion and Relevance: These findings add to growing evidence that women have a differential tau response to Aβ that may emerge at the point of p-tau secretion. These findings have implications for the therapeutics and diagnostics of preclinical Alzheimer disease.
2026-02-15
JAMA Neurology (published)
doi.org
Longitudinal effects of cerebrovascular reactivity and cerebral pulsatility in cognitively intact older adults with APOE4: links with cognition
Zacharie Potvin-Jutras
Pierre-Luc Tremblay
Hanieh Mohammadi
Sylvia Villeneuve
R. Nathan Spreng
Claudine Gauthier
Sylvia Villeneuve
Judes Poirier
John C.S. Breitner
Jennifer Tremblay‐Mercier
Jordana Remz
Jean‐Michel Raoult
Yara Yakoub
Jonathan Gallego-Rudolf
Ting Qiu
Alfonso Fajardo Valdez
Béry Mohammediyan
Mohammadali Javanray
Amelie Metz
Safa Sanami … (see 30 more)
Valentin Ourry
Alfie Wearn
Adeline Bernier
Manon Edde
Julie Gonneaud
Cherie Strikwerda‐Brown
Christine Tardif
Claudine Gauthier
Maxime Descoteaux
Mahsa Dadar
Étienne Vachon‐Presseau
Andrée‐Ann Baril
Simon Ducharme
Maxime Montembeault
Maiya R. Geddes
Jean‐Paul Soucy
Natasha Rajah
Robert Laforce
Christian Bocti
Christos Davatzikos
Lune Bellec
Pedro Rosa‐Neto
Sylvain Baillet
Alan C. Evans
D. Louis Collins
M. Mallar Chakravarty
Kaj Blennow
Henrik Zetterberg
R. Nathan Spreng
Alexa Pichet Binette
2025-12-05
GeroScience (published)
doi.org
Quantitative MRI of the hippocampus reveals microstructural trajectories of aging and Alzheimer’s disease pathology
Alfie Wearn
Christine Tardif
Ilana R. Leppert
Giulia Baracchini
Colleen Hughes
Jennifer Tremblay‐Mercier
John C.S. Breitner
Judes Poirier
Sylvia Villeneuve
Boris C. Bernhardt
Gary R. Turner
R. Nathan Spreng
Sylvia Villeneuve
Judes Poirier
John C.S. Breitner
Sylvain Baillet
Andrée‐Ann Baril
Pierre Bellec
Véronique D. Bohbot
Danilo Bzdok … (see 27 more)
M. Mallar Chakravarty
D. Louis Collins
Mahsa Dadar
Simon Ducharme
Alan C. Evans
Claudine Gauthier
Maiya R. Geddes
Rick Hoge
Yasser Ituria‐Medina
Gerhard Multhaup
Lisa Marie Munter
Alexa Pichet Binette
Natasha Rajah
Pedro Rosa‐Neto
Taylor W. Schmitz
Jean‐Paul Soucy
R. Nathan Spreng
Christine Tardif
Étienne Vachon‐Presseau
Christian Bocti
Maxime Descoteaux
Robert Laforce
Pierre Étienne
Serge Gauthier
Vasavan Nair
Jens C. Pruessner
Daniel Auld
Hippocampal atrophy, typically measured using volumetry, is a hallmark feature of both normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However,… (see more) the earliest stages of atrophy manifest as microstructural changes in tissue composition rather than macroscopic volume loss. We conducted longitudinal in vivo mapping of hippocampal microstructure in healthy aging and incipient AD, highlighting demyelination, iron deposition, and changes in water content as markers of age and AD risk. A combination of macrostructural and microstructural measures provides a more comprehensive picture of brain health and disease, unlocking unique insights into the pathological state of brain tissue and the impact of AD at a point where therapeutic rescue of the tissue is most likely to be efficacious.
2025-10-26
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (published)
doi.org
100 years of EEG for brain and behaviour research
Faisal Mushtaq
Dominik Welke
Anne Gallagher
Yuri G. Pavlov
Layla Kouara
Jorge Bosch-Bayard
Jasper J. F. van den Bosch
Mahnaz Arvaneh
Amy R. Bland
Maximilien Chaumon
Cornelius Borck
Xun He
Steven J. Luck
Maro G. Machizawa
Cyril Pernet
Aina Puce
Sidney Segalowitz
Christine Rogers
Muhammad Awais
Claudio Babiloni … (see 75 more)
Neil W. Bailey
Sylvain Baillet
Robert C. A. Bendall
Daniel Brady
Maria L. Bringas-Vega
Niko Busch
Ana Calzada-Reyes
Armand Chatard
Peter E. Clayson
Michael X. Cohen
Jonathan Cole
Martin Constant
Alexandra Corneyllie
Damien Coyle
Damian Cruse
Ioannis Delis
Arnaud Delorme
Damien Fair
Tiago H. Falk
Matthias Gamer
Giorgio Ganis
Kilian Gloy
Samantha Gregory
Cameron Hassall
Katherine Hiley
Richard B. Ivry
Karim Jerbi
Michael Jenkins
Jakob Kaiser
Andreas Keil
Robert T. Knight
Silvia Kochen
Boris Kotchoubey
Olave Krigolson
Nicolas Langer
Heinrich R. Liesefeld
Sarah Lippé
Raquel E. London
Annmarie MacNamara
Scott Makeig
Welber Marinovic
Eduardo Martínez-Montes
Aleya A. Marzuki
Ryan K. Mathew
Christoph Michel
José d. R. Millán
Mark Mon-Williams
Lilia Morales-Chacón
Richard Naar
Gustav Nilsonne
Guiomar Niso
Erika Nyhus
Robert Oostenveld
Katharina Paul
Walter Paulus
Daniela M. Pfabigan
Gilles Pourtois
Stefan Rampp
Manuel Rausch
Kay Robbins
Paolo M. Rossini
Manuela Ruzzoli
Barbara Schmidt
Magdalena Senderecka
Narayanan Srinivasan
Yannik Stegmann
Paul M. Thompson
Mitchell Valdes-Sosa
Melle J. W. van der Molen
Domenica Veniero
Edelyn Verona
Bradley Voytek
Dezhong Yao
Alan C. Evans
Pedro Valdes-Sosa
2024-08-21
Nature Human Behaviour (unknown)
doi.org
The Past, Present, and Future of the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS)
Russell A. Poldrack
Christopher J. Markiewicz
Stefan Appelhoff
Yoni K. Ashar
Tibor Auer
Sylvain Baillet
Shashank Bansal
Leandro Beltrachini
Christian G. Benar
Giacomo Bertazzoli
Suyash Bhogawar
Ross W. Blair
Marta Bortoletto
Mathieu Boudreau
Teon L. Brooks
Vince D. Calhoun
Filippo Maria Castelli
Patricia Clement
Alexander L Cohen
Julien Cohen-Adad … (see 94 more)
Sasha D'Ambrosio
Gilles de Hollander
María de la iglesia-Vayá
Alejandro de la Vega
Arnaud Delorme
Orrin Devinsky
Dejan Draschkow
Eugene Paul Duff
Elizabeth DuPré
Eric Earl
Oscar Estéban
Franklin W. Feingold
Guillaume Flandin
anthony galassi
Giuseppe Gallitto
Melanie Ganz
Rémi Gau
James Gholam
Satrajit S. Ghosh
Alessio Giacomel
Ashley G Gillman
Padraig Gleeson
Alexandre Gramfort
Samuel Guay
Giacomo Guidali
Yaroslav O. Halchenko
Daniel A. Handwerker
Nell Hardcastle
Peer Herholz
Dora Hermes
Christopher J. Honey
Robert B. Innis
Horea-Ioan Ioanas
Andrew Jahn
Agah Karakuzu
David B. Keator
Gregory Kiar
Balint Kincses
Angela R. Laird
Jonathan C. Lau
Alberto Lazari
Jon Haitz Legarreta
Adam Li
Xiangrui Li
Bradley C. Love
Hanzhang Lu
Camille Maumet
Giacomo Mazzamuto
Steven L. Meisler
Mark Mikkelsen
Henk Mutsaerts
Thomas E. Nichols
Aki Nikolaidis
Gustav Nilsonne
Guiomar Niso
Martin Norgaard
Thomas W Okell
Robert Oostenveld
Eduard Ort
Patrick J. Park
Mateusz Pawlik
Cyril R. Pernet
Franco Pestilli
Jan Petr
Christophe Phillips
Jean-Baptiste Poline
Luca Pollonini
Pradeep Reddy Raamana
Petra Ritter
Gaia Rizzo
Kay A. Robbins
Alexander P. Rockhill
Christine Rogers
Ariel Rokem
Chris Rorden
Alexandre Routier
Jose Manuel Saborit-Torres
Taylor Salo
Michael Schirner
Robert E. Smith
Tamas Spisak
Julia Sprenger
Nicole C. Swann
Martin Szinte
Sylvain Takerkart
Bertrand Thirion
Adam G. Thomas
Sajjad Torabian
Gael Varoquaux
Bradley Voytek
Julius Welzel
Martin Wilson
Tal Yarkoni
Krzysztof J. Gorgolewski
The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) is a community-driven standard for the organization of data and metadata from a growing range of neu… (see more)roscience modalities. This paper is meant as a history of how the standard has developed and grown over time. We outline the principles behind the project, the mechanisms by which it has been extended, and some of the challenges being addressed as it evolves. We also discuss the lessons learned through the project, with the aim of enabling researchers in other domains to learn from the success of BIDS.
2024-02-19
Imaging Neuroscience (published)
doi.org
arxiv.org