Bassett is an American physicist using tools from network science and complex systems theory to enhance our understanding of connectivity and organisational principles in the human brain. Combining a strong background in physics with training and collaborations in neuroscience, Bassett adapts mathematical approaches associated with the study of complex networks to analyse interactions among neurons in different regions of the brain while a person does certain activities, thereby unraveling how these connections give rise to the functions or jobs the brain performs. With her work on graph theoretic characterisations of interconnections within the brain and how those connections change over time and under varying conditions, Bassett determines the specific relationship between network organisation and cognitive ability and also how functional connectivity in the brain is modified by memory and language processing, and by psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. With additional lines of research focused on dynamics in social and physical networks, Bassett is also making contributions to disciplines as far-ranging as cell biology, materials science, and social systems. Danielle Bassett received a B.S. (2004) from Pennsylvania State University and a Certificate of Postgraduate Study (2005) and Ph.D. (2009) from the University of Cambridge. She was a postdoctoral associate (2009–2011) and a Sage Junior Research Fellow (2011–2013) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where she is currently the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in the Department of Bioengineering. Her scientific papers have appeared in such journals as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Neuron, Physical Review E, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Chaos, among others.
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