Research focus
The Brain Maturation Research Group investigates individual differences in human brain development from infancy through adolescence. We seek to understand how developmental trajectories of the brain relate to behavioral development and how biological and environmental factors contribute to individual differences in developmental outcomes. By integrating longitudinal neuroimaging with deep phenotyping, we investigate how changes in brain structure and connectivity relate to behavioral development across time. Across our studies, we investigate three interconnected aspects of development: brain maturational trajectories, brain-behavior relationships, and the biological and environmental factors shaping brain development.
To address these questions, we conduct longitudinal studies in both typically developing and at-risk populations. Our research includes typically developing infants, children, and adolescents, infants at risk for cerebral palsy, and children and adolescents at familial risk for severe mental disorders. Studying development across these populations provides insight into healthy developmental trajectories as well as factors associated with vulnerability and adverse outcomes.
A major strength of the group is the integration of longitudinal neuroimaging with extensive deep phenotyping, including detailed assessments of motor, cognitive, emotional, clinical, biological, and environmental factors. By following participants across key stages of development, we investigate how brain and behavioral trajectories unfold over time and identify early brain features associated with later outcomes. This approach provides insight into the developmental origins of neurological and psychiatric disorders while advancing our understanding of typical brain and behavioral development.
The group brings together expertise in developmental neuroscience, neuroimaging, psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, biology, and data science. We are passionate about interdisciplinary and collaborative research and work closely with national and international partners across academic and clinical disciplines. Through these collaborations, we aim to advance understanding of the factors shaping brain development and how developmental trajectories contribute to individual differences in behavioral, health, and clinical outcomes.
Research projects
NIBS-CP
NeuroImaging of Babies during natural Sleep to assess typical development and Cerebral Palsy (NIBS-CP) is a longitudinal study of early brain development in typically developing infants and infants at risk for cerebral palsy. The project follows 200 infants from 3 to 24 months of age with repeated multimodal MRI and comprehensive assessments of motor, neurological, and cognitive development. NIBS-CP has established Denmark’s first research infrastructure for MRI of infants and toddlers during natural sleep without sedation or anesthesia, enabling the study of brain maturational trajectories during a pivotal period of development. The project is conducted in close collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Melanie Ganz, to integrate advanced image-processing approaches tailored to infant brain MRI.
A central aim of the project is to establish normative models of early brain development and identify individual-level deviations associated with atypical developmental trajectories. The project examines brain-behavior relationships by investigating how early brain development relates to motor function and motor development, and whether early brain features can predict later motor and congitive outcomes. By identifying early markers of atypical development and cerebral palsy, NIBS-CP aims to improve opportunities for earlier diagnosis and intervention and advance our understanding of the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying motor and clinical outcomes. Read more about the NIBS-CP project here.
People: Kathrine Skak Madsen, Daban Sulaiman, Henrik Lundell, Fanny Kozak, Petr Bednarik, Camilla Djurhuus Hansen, Emilie Kristine Waage Nielsen, Olivia Inge Krøyer Christiansen, Freja Emilie Nielsen, Jonathan Wiben Paag, Mie Lønstrup Holst, Sofie Møller Christensen, Carl Villads Priisholm, Aicha Mellah
SELFIE
Becoming me: how does the infant brain construct a self (SELFIE) is a longitudinal study investigating the developmental origins of self-awareness during infancy. Led by Prof. Victoria Southgate, the project follows 120 infants from 3 months of age with longitudinal behavioral assessments to examine the emergence of self-awareness and its developmental foundations during the first years of life. The Brain Maturation Research Group leads the MRI work package. Using MRI acquired during natural sleep at 5–6 months of age, we investigate early brain structure, and structural and functional connectivity during a pivotal stage of infant development. By relating early MRI measures to later behavioral development, the project aims to identify early brain features associated with emerging self-awareness and provide new insights into the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying self-awareness.
People: Kathrine Skak Madsen, Daban Sulaiman
The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study - VIA
Members of the Brain Maturation Research Group collaborate with the Developmental Psychiatry Group on the BrainMap substudy of the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study (VIA). VIA is a national longitudinal study following children from age 7 years through adolescence, who were born to parents with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or neither disorder, providing a unique opportunity to investigate developmental trajectories associated with familial risk and resilience. Within the BrainMap substudy, the Brain Maturation Research Group contributes expertise in structural and diffusion MRI and investigates brain structure and structural connectivity in children at familial high risk for severe mental disorders. A particular focus is characterizing brain maturational trajectories and identifying structural brain markers associated with risk, resilience, and cognitive, behavioral, and clinical outcomes. The VIA study is led by Prof. Merete Nordentoft. Read more about the VIA project here.
People: Kathrine Skak Madsen, William F.C. Baaré, Adam Kaminski, Vasilis Ioakeimidis
MORE2SLEEP
MORE2SLEEP: The Effect of Sleep Extension on Children’s Health and Learning is a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of sleep extension on cognitive function, learning, and metabolic health in overweight children aged 6–11 years. The study examines whether increasing sleep duration can improve learning, cognitive functioning, and metabolic health during a key period of child development and investigates the mechanisms linking sleep, brain function, learning, and metabolic health. Participants undergo comprehensive clinical, physiological, cognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging assessments before and after a 3-month sleep extension intervention. The Brain Maturation Research Group leads the neuroimaging work package, assessing brain structure and function using MRI to investigate how sleep influences brain structure and function, and brain-behavior relationships. The project is led by Prof. Faidon Magkos (PI) and Assoc. Prof. Jesper Lundbye-Jensen (co-PI) at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen. Read more about the project here.
People: Kathrine Skak Madsen, Hartwig R. Siebner, Daban Sulaiman, Camilla Djurhuus Hansen, Olivia Inge Krøyer Christiansen, Freja Emilie Nielsen, Jonathan Wiben Paag, Mie Lønstrup Holst, Sofie Møller Christensen, Carl Villads Priisholm
HUBU
HUBU (“Hjernens Udvikling hos Børn og Unge“: Brain maturation in children and adolescents) is a longitudinal study of typical brain and behavioral development. The project follows 95 children recruited between 7 and 13 years of age with up to 12 waves of neuroimaging, cognitive, behavioral, and clinical assessments over approximately nine years, creating a uniquely dense longitudinal dataset spanning childhood and adolescence. A central aim of HUBU is to characterize individual differences in brain and behavioral developmental trajectories and examine how these trajectories are interrelated across development. The project investigates how variation in brain maturation relates to the development of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning and examines how biological and environmental factors shape developmental trajectories. By combining repeated neuroimaging with deep phenotyping, HUBU provides a unique opportunity to study brain-behavior relationships and factors contributing to individual differences in development.
People: Kathrine Skak Madsen, William F.C. Baaré, Adam Kaminski
Datasets
Lifebrain; Healthy minds from 0-100 years: Optimising the use of European brain imaging cohorts: Since 2017, HUBU has been part of the Horizon 2020 Lifebrain consortium, a European collaboration investigating brain, cognitive, and mental health across the lifespan. Lifebrain is coordinated by the University of Oslo, consisting of 14 partners. Lifebrain aims (a) to establish a solid foundation of knowledge for understanding how brain, cognitive and mental health can be optimized through the lifespan and (b) to identify determinants of brain, cognitive and mental health at different stages of life by creating a large database of detailed information about brain imaging relating to cognitive function, mental health, and genetics. Lifebrain incorporates more than 5000 individual participants and exceeds 27.000 examinations in total.
Outreach
See our article about MR-Scanning at Hvidovre Hospital here.
Selected Publications
Carrick C, Baaré WFC, Vitoratou S, Madsen KS* & Fuhrmann D* (2025). Individual Differences in Developmental Trajectories of Global and Subcortical Brain Volumes Between Late Childhood and Late Adolescence: Findings From a 12-Wave Neuroimaging Study. Human Brain Mapping, 46, e70348. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70348
Olson HA*, Camacho MC*, Abdurokhmonova G, Ahmad S, Chen EM, Chung H, Lorenzo RD, Dineen ÁT, Ganz M, Licandro R, Magnain C, Marrus N, McCormick SA, Rutter TM, Wagner L, Woodruff Carr K, Zöllei L, Vaughn KA* & Madsen KS* (2025). Measuring and interpreting individual differences in fetal, infant, and toddler neurodevelopment. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 73, 101539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101539
Madsen KS, Baaré WFC, Hernandez-Torres E, Larsen KM, Kaminski A, Johnsen LK, Hemager N, Gregersen M, Brandt JM, Krantz MF, Weye N, Søndergaard, A, Greve, A. N., Knudsen CB, Andreassen AK, Veddum L, Lund TE, Mors O, Thorup AAE, Østergaard L, Nordentoft M & Siebner HR (2025). Sex-specific cortical brain differences in children at familial high risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.08.005
Plachti A, Baaré WFC, Johansen LB, Thompson WK, Siebner HR & Madsen KS (2023). Stability of associations between neuroticism and microstructural asymmetry of the cingulum during late childhood and adolescence: Insights from a longitudinal study with up to 11 waves. Human Brain Mapping, 44(4), 1548–1564. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26157
Fuhrmann D*, Madsen KS*, Johansen LB, Baaré WFC* & Kievit RA* (2022). The midpoint of cortical thinning between late childhood and early adulthood differs across individuals and regions: Evidence from longitudinal modelling in a 12-wave sample. NeuroImage, 261, 119507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119507
Gonzalez MR, Baaré WFC, Hagler DJ, Archibald S, Vestergaard M & Madsen KS (2021). Brain structure associations with phonemic and semantic fluency in typically-developing children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 50, 100982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100982
Vidal-Pineiro D, Wang Y, Krogsrud SK, Amlien IK, Baaré WFC, Bartres-Faz D, Bertram L, Brandmaier AM, Drevon CA, Düzel S, Ebmeier K, Henson RN, Junqué C, Kievit RA, Kühn S, Leonardsen E, Lindenberger U, Madsen KS, Magnussen F, … Fjell A (2021). Individual variations in ‘brain age’ relate to early-life factors more than to longitudinal brain change. ELife, 10:e69995, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69995
Madsen KS, Johansen LB, Thompson WK, Siebner HR, Jernigan TL, & Baaré WFC (2020). Maturational trajectories of white matter microstructure underlying the right presupplementary motor area reflect individual improvements in motor response cancellation in children and adolescents. NeuroImage, 220, 117105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117105
Vestergaard M*, Madsen KS*, Baaré WFC, Skimminge A, Ejersbo LR, Ramsøy TZ, Gerlach C, Åkeson P, Paulson OB & Jernigan TL (2011). White matter microstructure in superior longitudinal fasciculus associated with spatial working memory performance in children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(9), 2135–2146. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21592
Madsen KS, Baaré WFC, Vestergaard M, Skimminge A, Ejersbo LR, Ramsøy TZ, Gerlach C, Åkeson P, Paulson OB & Jernigan TL (2010). Response inhibition is associated with white matter microstructure in children. Neuropsychologia, 48(4), 854–862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.11.001
