# Strongly Topology-preserving GNNs for Brain Graph Super-resolution

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02525 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02525/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Nov 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [Geometric Deep Learning: Grids, Groups, Graphs, Geodesics, and Gauges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.13478/) (2021)
- [Masked Label Prediction: Unified Message Passing Model for Semi-Supervised Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.03509/) (2020)
- [Graph U-Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05178/) (2019)
- [Dynamic Edge-Conditioned Filters in Convolutional Neural Networks on Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02901/) (2017)
- [Deep Back-Projection Networks For Super-Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.02735/) (2018)
- [GraphGAN: Graph Representation Learning with Generative Adversarial Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.08267/) (2017)
- [GraphNorm: A Principled Approach to Accelerating Graph Neural Network Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.03294/) (2020)
- [Graph Neural Networks in Network Neuroscience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.03535/) (2021)
- [Efficient and Accurate MRI Super-Resolution using a Generative Adversarial Network and 3D Multi-Level Densely Connected Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.01417/) (2018)
- [Non-isomorphic Inter-modality Graph Alignment and Synthesis for Holistic Brain Mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.06281/) (2021)
- [Brain Graph Super-Resolution Using Adversarial Graph Neural Network with Application to Functional Brain Connectivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.00425/) (2021)
- [StairwayGraphNet for Inter- and Intra-modality Multi-resolution Brain Graph Alignment and Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04279/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [GraphTreeGen: Subtree-Centric Approach to Efficient and Supervised Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09710/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Brain graph super-resolution (SR) is an under-explored yet highly relevant task in network neuroscience. It circumvents the need for costly and time-consuming medical imaging data collection, preparation, and processing. Current SR methods leverage graph neural networks (GNNs) thanks to their ability to natively handle graph-structured datasets. However, most GNNs perform node feature learning, which presents two significant limitations: (1) they require computationally expensive methods to learn complex node features capable of inferring connectivity strength or edge features, which do not scale to larger graphs; and (2) computations in the node space fail to adequately capture higher-order brain topologies such as cliques and hubs. However, numerous studies have shown that brain graph topology is crucial in identifying the onset and presence of various neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer and Parkinson. Motivated by these challenges and applications, we propose our STP-GSR framework. It is the first graph SR architecture to perform representation learning in higher-order topological space. Specifically, using the primal-dual graph formulation from graph theory, we develop an efficient mapping from the edge space of our low-resolution (LR) brain graphs to the node space of a high-resolution (HR) dual graph. This approach ensures that node-level computations on this dual graph correspond naturally to edge-level learning on our HR brain graphs, thereby enforcing strong topological consistency within our framework. Additionally, our framework is GNN layer agnostic and can easily learn from smaller, scalable GNNs, reducing computational requirements. We comprehensively benchmark our framework across seven key topological measures and observe that it significantly outperforms the previous state-of-the-art methods and baselines.