Alexa Mousley
Postdoctoral Research Associate
I’m a computational neuroscientist studying how the brain’s structural connections form, refine, and reorganise across the human lifespan.
Childhood
Adolescence
Adulthood
Early ageing
Late ageing
The five eras of human brain network organisation, from my work on lifespan connectomics (Nature Communications, 2025).
About
I’m a computational neuroscientist working at the intersection of brain imaging, network science, and machine learning. My research explores the influence of genetic and environmental factors in the wiring of the developing brain across the lifespan.
I’m currently a postdoc in the 4D Lab at Cambridge, where I investigate how brain connectivity relates to adolescent mental health, cognition, genetic predisposition, and adverse experiences in young people from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. In my PhD, supported by the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, my research identified the major topological turning points in the human connectome — published in Nature Communications (2025) and covered by BBC News, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and over 340 outlets worldwide.
Research themes
Brain network development across the lifespan
How does the human connectome reorganise as we age? Using diffusion MRI and graph theory across thousands of brains — from neonates to nonagenarians — my work identifies the developmental turning points where the brain’s wiring rules fundamentally shift. Read more →
Generative models of connectome formation
Why do brains wire the way they do? I build computational models that simulate how connections form under competing constraints — physical cost versus communication efficiency. Applied to preterm infants, these models reveal how life circumstances relate to different contraints in brain development.
Brain architecture and critical periods of development
In my current postdoc, I’m investigating how patterns of structural connectivity (i.e., connectivity signatures) relate to individual vulnerability and resilience during one of the formative period of adolescence.
In the news
My research has been featured in BBC News, Sky News, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, Scientific American, and National Geographic, among 340+ outlets worldwide. See full coverage →
Beyond academics
Outside the lab, I’m usually woodworking, and I sometimes share what I make on Instagram at @handcraftedby_alexa. When I’m not making sawdust, I’m hiking or playing basketball.