Relation of NAC to other large research centers
NAC’s role as an integrating center for atlas creation and application is best understood by considering its relationship to those programs with which it is connected.
SPL
Founded in 1988, the Surgical Planning Laboratory (SPL) is the parent organization of the NAC. Ron Kikinis, Founder and Director, was originally recruited by Ferenc Jolesz, Chairman of the Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, to provide the resources necessary to support the hospital's image-guided therapy (IGT) program. Today, the SPL is an advanced computer science facility that combines state-of-art imaging resources with world-class computer scientists, imaging experts, and clinicians. These resident and collaborating scientists work together not only to meet the original goals of IGT, but also to expand the utility of computer visualization through the development of open-source software and advanced algorithms for post-processed imaging analysis. SPL scientists have made important contributions to the field of computer visualization that are being used to address critical problems in neurological disease. The SPL parents, hosts, supports, or maintains strong connections to all the other clinical and research facilities described below.
NA-MIC
A component of the NIH Roadmap Initiative, the National Alliance for Medical Image Computing (NA-MIC) is a National Center for Biomedical Computing, and has been designated by the NIH as a national scientific resource, like the BIRN. The NAC served as an incubator for and brought algorithmic science (e.g., 3D Slicer, VTK, ITK) to the NA-MIC, which then gave rise to NA-MIC’s technology platforms. In turn, the NA-MIC toolkit is the standard software platform used for NAC research.
BIRN
The Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) is a publicly available cyberinfrastructure for medical research that presently has a neuroscience focus. BIRN collaborates with the NAC’s Engineering and fMRI Informatics Cores. In fact, NAC's Engineering Core was previously part of BIRN but in a recent reorganization was spun off as a distinct entity. Collectively, BIRN’s networks form what the NIH calls “testbeds” and include the morphometry BIRN (mBIRN) and the functional BIRN (fBIRN). These BIRNs are designing biomedical informatics methods; namely calibration, database, networking, compatible analysis tools, and data sets for single laboratory and multi-site study use.
NCIGT
The National Center for Image-Guided Therapy (NCIGT) uses NAC's basic science and analytical tools, including the 3D Slicer software, to further image-guided therapy. Funded in 2005, the NCIGT focuses on other areas of medicine in addition to neuroscience, including therapy for prostate and breast diseases. This effort builds on a long history of translational research, where innovative technologies become the foundation for advanced clinical research. The program recently marked the completion of 1000 craniotomy procedures, all of which used the 3D Slicer software for surgical navigation. Future NAC research will assist the NCIGT to develop IGT-specific capabilities, such as interactions with robots, trackers, and scanners.
CIMIT
Branching out from NCIGT is a larger network of interdisciplinary
researchers who form the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, or CIMIT. CIMIT is a non-profit consortium of worldleading academic and research institutions (Partners HealthCare System, Massachusetts General Hospital, BWH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Draper Laboratory) which, together, are developing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, with an emphasis on minimally invasive technique.
HCNR
Launched in 2001, the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR) is a decentralized community of Harvard Medical School neuroscientists and neurology researchers working together to develop therapies for neurodegenerative disease. Two NAC PI's, Drs. Ferenc Jolesz and William Wells, have been involved in initiating and directing the HCNR’s brain imaging center, which is made up of an optical imaging unit, an MRI facility, and an image analysis unit. Participating hospitals in the HCNR are: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, BWH, Children’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and McLean Hospital. Periodically, HCNR sponsors training courses in the use of 3D Slicer for members of the HCNR community.
PNL
A new laboratory, the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, was launched in
October, 2005, under the capable direction of Dr. Martha Shenton. This laboratory focuses on using neuroimaging techniques to investigate brain abnormalities in psychiatric disorders. The laboratory collaborates extensively with NAC's White Matter Architecture Core, directed by Dr. Carl-Fredrik Westin, and also works closely with researchers in the NA-MIC who are developing imaging tools to investigate the driving biological problem of schizophrenia. Drs. Shenton and Kikinis have collaborated now for more than 18 years, and Dr. Shenton provides important data sets for use by computer scientists in the Surgical Planning Laboratory. Her group has also served an important function in evaluating software and in providing feedback on the further development of algorithms for specific research questions of interest to neuroscientists.
CNI
The Center for Neurological Imaging is a joint venture between the Departments of Neurology and Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The CNI serves as the imaging arm of the BWH/MGH Multiple Sclerosis Center. The department consists of two sections: The Image Analysis Laboratory (IAL), and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility (MRI) The MRI facility includes a dedicated 1.5 Tesla and 3T MR scanner, which is adjacent to the Radiology Department's 3T system. Together these three state-of-the-art imaging systems provide outstanding capability for imaging the human central nervous system. The image analysis laboratory is a powerful computer facility dedicated to the quantification and visualization of CNS structures.
The CNI has developed a database-driven image management and work flow system that is being used and deployed in the context of NAC's collaborative work. This work flow management system uses a centralized database and distributed computing for medical image processing and analysis. It applies and integrates NAC tools, such as 3D Slicer, as central mechanisms for quality control, expert operator input, and advanced visualization. Such management systems are becoming increasingly relevant to assure processing quality as data sets grow larger and image processing pipelines become more complex. The implementation includes a web-form-based oracle database application for information management and event dispatching, and different modules for image processing and analysis. The seamless integration of processing pipelines with the database makes it more convenient for users to navigate complex multi-step analysis protocols. It also reduces the user’s learning curve and the time for combining and activating different computing modules. Web-form-based applications are combined with high-resolution graphical display (3D Slicer) and editing applications which improve efficiency. This implementation also enables monitoring of expert-operator input and guided quality-control.