Amanda Buch, PhD
Neuroscientist & AI engineer
Science communicator & diplomat
Classically trained visual & multidisciplinary artist
About
Dr. Amanda M. Buch is a Cuban American neuroscientist, AI engineer, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, where she leads the Buch Lab. She develops machine learning approaches for AI-guided precision neuropsychiatry and studies individual differences across brain, behavior, and biology using neuroimaging, behavioral, clinical, genomic, and environmental data. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University and her B.A. in Biophysics from Columbia University. She has also studied science diplomacy at Rockefeller University through the Hurford Science Diplomacy Initiative.
During her doctoral and postdoctoral research, Dr. Buch pioneered a novel imaging transcriptomics approach for biological subtyping and identified four distinct subtypes of autism spectrum disorder linked to distinct molecular pathways. She also invented cluster-aware machine learning methods using convex optimization and random matrix theory to identify reproducible structure in high-dimensional biomedical data. Her current research extends these approaches toward multimodal models of psychiatric and neurological heterogeneity and precision diagnosis and treatment. Her areas of research expertise include neuroimaging, artificial intelligence and machine learning, multi-omics, circuit neuroscience, behavioral neuromodulation, ultrasonics, and bioinformatics.
Prior to her doctoral research with Dr. Conor Liston at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Buch worked with Dr. Daphna Shohamy at Columbia University, where she investigated the neural correlates of cognitive flexibility in Parkinson’s disease using task-based functional MRI; with Dr. Vincent Ferrera and Dr. Elisa Konofagou at Columbia University, where she studied noninvasive focused ultrasound neuromodulation and blood-brain barrier opening for targeted drug delivery; and with Dr. Viviane Tabar and Dr. Lorenz Studer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on stem cell-derived dopamine grafts for Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Buch’s research and science communication have been featured by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Dana Foundation, and Story Collider, and her work has appeared in venues including Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Neuropsychopharmacology, Translational Psychiatry, AISTATS, and Science & Diplomacy. She is a Simons Foundation Fellows-to-Faculty Fellow, Burroughs Wellcome Fund/Charles Revson Scholar, and NASEM/Ford Foundation Early-Career Fellow Emeritus.
Beyond science, Dr. Buch is a classically trained visual and multidisciplinary artist. She studies drawing and painting in the classical tradition at Grand Central Atelier in New York City, specializing in classical realist portraiture in oils from life, and works in scientific illustration. Her artistic practice also extends to the performing arts: she has performed in Commercial Jazz at Alvin Ailey in work choreographed by Holly Hyman and has trained in acting and the performing arts at HB Studio.
Latest Press
Articles featuring Dr. Buch's research
Research Publications
Buch, Amanda M., Conor Liston, and Logan Grosenick. (2024) Simple and Scalable Algorithms for Cluster-Aware Precision Medicine. Proceedings of The 27th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS), PMLR 238:136-144, PMID: 39015742 https://proceedings.mlr.press/v238/buch24a/buch24a.pdf.
Buch, Amanda M., Conor Liston, and Logan Grosenick. (2023) Short paper: Cluster-Aware Algorithms for AI-Enabled Precision Medicine. Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) Conference: LatinX in AI (LXAI) Research Workshop 2023, New Orleans, Louisiana, https://doi.org/10.52591/lxai2023121011.
Buch, Amanda M. and Conor Liston. (2023) Gene-Brain-Behavior Mechanisms Underlying Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Precision Psychiatry. Neuropsychopharmacology, September. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01722-0.
Buch, Amanda M., Petra E. Vértes, Jakob Seidlitz, So Hyun Kim, Logan Grosenick, and Conor Liston. (2023) Molecular and Network-Level Mechanisms Explaining Individual Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Nature Neuroscience, March. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01259-x
Buch, Amanda M., Conor Liston, and Logan Grosenick. (2022). Simple and Scalable Algorithms for Cluster-Aware Precision Medicine. arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.16553
Babij, Rachel and Ferrera, Camilo, Alexander Donatelle, Sam Wacks, Amanda M. Buch, James E. Niemeyer, Hongtao Ma, et al. (2022) Gabrb3 Is Required for the Functional Integration of Pyramidal Neuron Subtypes in the Somatosensory Cortex. Neuron, November. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.10.037
Buch, Amanda M., David M. Eagleman, and Logan Grosenick. (2022) Engineering Diplomacy: How AI and Human Augmentation Could Remake the Art of Foreign Relations. Science & Diplomacy. October 25. https://doi.org/10.1126/scidip.ade6798
Buch, Amanda M., and Conor Liston. (2021) Dissecting Diagnostic Heterogeneity in Depression by Integrating Neuroimaging and Genetics. Neuropsychopharmacology, 46 (1): 156–75. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-020-00789-3
Gerraty, RT., Sharp, ME., Buch, AM., Bassett, DS., & Shohamy, D. (2019) Dopamine modulates learning-related changes in dynamic striatal-cortical connectivity in Parkinson’s disease. bioRxiv (p. 619478). https://doi.org/10.1101/619478
Downs, ME., Teichert, T., Buch, AM., Karakatsani, ME., Sierra, C., Chen, S., Konofagou, EE., & Ferrera, VP. (2017) Toward a Cognitive Neural Prosthesis Using Focused Ultrasound. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 11, 607. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2017.00607
Samiotaki, G., Karakatsani, ME., Buch, AM., Papadopoulos, S., Wu, SY., Jambawalikar, S., & Konofagou, EE. (2017) Pharmacokinetic analysis and drug delivery efficiency of the focused ultrasound-induced blood-brain barrier opening in non-human primates. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 37, 273–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2016.11.023
Wu, S.-Y., Sanchez, CS., Samiotaki, G., Buch, AM., Ferrera, VP., & Konofagou, EE. (2016) Characterizing Focused-Ultrasound Mediated Drug Delivery to the Heterogeneous Primate Brain In Vivo with Acoustic Monitoring. Scientific Reports, 6, 37094. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep37094
Wang, S., Kugelman, T., Buch, AM., Herman, M., Han, Y., Karakatsani, ME., Hussaini, SA., Duff, K., & Konofagou, E. E. (2017) Non-invasive, Focused Ultrasound-Facilitated Gene Delivery for Optogenetics. Scientific Reports, 7, 39955. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39955
Wang, S., Buch, AM., Hussaini, SA., Acosta, C., & Konofagou, EE. (2015) Focused ultrasound facilitated adenoviral delivery for optogenetic stimulation. 2015 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2015.0207
Downs, ME., Buch, AM., Karakatsani, ME., Konofagou, EE., & Ferrera, VP. (2015) Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in Behaving Non-Human Primates via Focused Ultrasound with Systemically Administered Microbubbles. Scientific Reports, 5, 15076. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15076
Downs, ME., Buch, AM., Sierra, C., Karakatsani, ME., Teichert, T., Chen, S., Konofagou, EE., & Ferrera, VP. (2015) Long-Term Safety of Repeated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening via Focused Ultrasound with Microbubbles in Non-Human Primates Performing a Cognitive Task. PloS One, 10(5), e0125911. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125911
Wu, S.-Y., Downs, M., Sanchez, CS., Teichert, T., Buch, AM., Samiotaki, G., Marquet, F., Tung, Y.-S., Chen, C., Ferrera, VP., & Konofagou, EE. (2013) Monitoring of focused ultrasound-induced blood-brain barrier opening in non-human primates using transcranial cavitation detection in vivo and the primate skull effect. 2013 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS), 1201–1204. https://doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2013.0307
Kriks, S., Shim, J.-W., Piao, J., Ganat, YM., Wakeman, DR., Xie, Z., Carrillo-Reid, L., Auyeung, G., Antonacci, C., Buch, AM., Yang, L., Beal, MF., Surmeier, DJ., Kordower, JH., Tabar, V., & Studer, L. (2011) Dopamine neurons derived from human ES cells efficiently engraft in animal models of Parkinson’s disease. Nature, 480(7378), 547–551. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10648
Science Diplomacy
Science diplomacy is the use of diplomatic processes to facilitate international science collaboration and the use of science as a soft power to advance diplomatic relations.
As a science diplomat, Dr. Buch facilitates community engagement between the international scientific community and the public. Further, Dr. Buch researches and advocates for policy-wide changes to enhance international scientific collaboration, equity, and inclusion.
On March 18, 2022, Dr. Buch presented her Science & Diplomacy article on how artificial intelligence and human augmentation could impact diplomacy, at a virtual event hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
