Rethinking Parkinson’s: The Somato-Cognitive Action Network (SCAN) hypothesis

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Hesheng Liu about his recent Nature paper proposing a major conceptual shift: Parkinson’s disease as a somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) disorder. Together they discuss how a large multimodal dataset suggests a characteristic pattern of hyperconnectivity between SCAN cortical areas and subcortical nuclei in Parkinson’s disease, how this signature changes with effective therapies, and why personalized SCAN targeting may help refine non-invasive stimulation and circuit-guided interventions. The conversation explores implications for biomarkers, patient-specific targeting, and key unanswered questions that will shape the next generation of studies. Read the article.