Overview
The Neuroimage Analysis Center develops computer analysis techniques and open-source software for visualizing regions of the brain that are crucial to solving pressing problems in basic and applied neuroscience. These imaging analysis tools have many purposes: furthering our understanding of crippling neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia; monitoring the varying course of neurologic illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis; guiding precise neurosurgical interventions while sparing underlying tissues that are vital to cognitive functions and behaviors.
While these cutting-edge techniques provide tantalizing glimpses of the underlying machinery of the brain; alone, they neither explain the remarkable capabilities of the living brain, nor capture its incredible diversity across large populations in health and disease. Multi-parametric mathematical models, refined through direct application to real patient data, are also needed to provide the necessary scientific framework for testing important fundamental hypotheses and making life-critical therapeutic decisions.
The NAC approaches the developmental process through specific core technologies, collaborative application projects, and by leveraging parallel advances in other scientific fields. It serves as a nexus for a unique and talented group of investigators with diverse skills who are involved in the creation and application of advanced bioimaging, computational, and clinical techniques. Centered in the Surgical Planning Laboratory at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the NAC thrives in the environment of a well funded, highly specialized computer facility. A hub for outreach, the Resource provides training and dissemination to ensure that the larger basic and clinical neuroscience community has ready access to these advanced, revolutionary imaging methods.
Themes in Technological Development
The current trend in technological development focuses on refining tools, models, and higher engineering systems capable of conveying the complexity of the brain in several ontologic (see Glossary) frameworks that can be used across disciplines to study and treat neurologic disease. The basic science is conducted by NAC's five research technology development cores (see Research Cores). The major themes include variability of structures (white versus gray matter) and neural connectivity (white matter fiber tracts), variability of brain functions, time-series analysis, the expression of morphologic and functional relationships (Functional Ontology-Enhanced, High-Resolution, Multi-Modal Brain Atlas), and the development of a stable software environment to make these tools, models, and systems accessible for widespread application and outreach. The latter effort leverages the NA-MIC kit (3D Slicer), a software environment supported by the NIH that incorporates major technological components created by NAC scientists.
Major Collaboration Partners
To cover the depth of scientific endeavor required to transform imaging analysis techniques into useful clinical applications, the NAC currently relies on input from five major collaboration partners, each of which has expertise critical to the Center's scientific purpose and specific aims (see Collaborations).
Atlas development is an excellent illustration of the the need for collaborative effort. To cover the wide range of compelling neuroscience questions, researchers need models that provide a central system for coordinating data sets from large study populations. Atlas-based systems are ubiquitous to the neuroimaging research community because of the analytical power provided by standardized anatomical regions of interest and a common coordinate frame for evaluating group differences. The current trend in atlas development has progressed from a single morphologic focus to a more generalized atlas that incorporates population-based ontological, functional, and connectivity data, which are then coupled with profiles of disease progression. Each of the NAC research cores is providing specific input to the present phase of atlas development (see Atlas).
Other Collaborations
Boston is an outstanding location for biomedical research, and the richness of this environment is reflected in the scope and breadth of the Resource's collaborations. In addition to local laboratories, the NAC has a wide network of national and international associations. The degree of collaborative activity ranges from a close integration of work, where the outside collaborator has a permanent presence in the Resource facility, to secondary collaborations that are mediated through our primary collaborators or others that can be described more as one-way service collaborations, such as the work depicted in the accompanying image.
NAC as a Critical Link
The NAC is an important hub in a network of innovative projects and organizations. NAC's specific focus is computational research applied to the field of neuroscience. NAC's central role as an integrating center for atlas creation and algorithmic development is best understood by considering its relationship to other large programs that depend on the fruits of NAC's core research. In this sense, NAC serves as a critical link in a larger chain of ongoing activities aimed at merging imaging analysis techniques with other technologies to develop novel tools for medical diagnosis and therapy. Within this chain there exists extensive, ongoing data-dependent development. For example, the NAC served as the incubator for the National Alliance for Medical Image Computing (NA-MIC), a National Center for Biomedical Computing supported by the NIH. The NA-MIC is continuing to develop the NA-MIC kit, which includes the 3D Slicer application, several software toolkits, and a software engineering methodology. In turn, the NA-MIC kit is the standard software environment for the NAC.
Other interconnected programs with a neuroscience focus include the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN), the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR), the National Center for Image-Guided Therapy (NCIGT), and the various research efforts of the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL).
NAC is further distinguished by its local nature. Like NA-MIC, PNL, and the NCIGT, it is based at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). However, it began as a BWH facility, using BWH-specific resources to accomplish BWH-specific scientific aims. In contrast, the NA-MIC and NCIGT were conceived with a national focus, and their primary objective was the creation of compatible systems that would connect and permit unfettered exchange of information between the many institutions and members that comprise the larger scientific community (see Critical).
Outreach
The outreach activities of the NAC (dissemination, training, and service) are a major focus of the overall NAC effort and have been integral to the ongoing research agenda. NAC investigators are prolific contributors to the academic literature and active in organizing and participating in scientific conferences and workshops at the national and international level. Efforts to disseminate NAC technologies are further aided by NAC's commitment to open-source software, which is used as a major vehicle for disseminating scientific output to the biomedical community. Additionally, NAC and its affiliated laboratories host many visiting students, fellows, faculty, and industry collaborators who visit the Resource for specialized training and assistance. Located in the midst of a busy teaching hospital and affiliated with top academic institutions, the NAC program offers trainees complete immersion in both the theory and practice of biomedical research. The service component of NAC's outreach program relies heavily on the internet and NAC continues to leverage this resource in new and innovative ways. Since publications and software are major deliverables of NAC, electronic communications are natural conduits for providing ongoing support to users. Much of the service activity centers on our web sites, Slicer for software downloads and information and NA-MIC, a wiki site which has become a central location for documentation, meeting minutes, organizational material, and other related information. In addition, mailing lists for developers and users provide a forum in which to ask questions and exchange information about NAC technology. NAC also provides access to data sets, including a detailed anatomy atlas with high resolution MRI and 3D reconstructions. To date, thousands of researchers have downloaded this material from the NAC web site.
Subcontractors
The NAC leadership works closely with several subcontractors with whom it has a longstanding established record of successful collaboration. The subcontractors complement the SPL-based team and add critical capabilities in applied mathematics and software engineering.
MIT-CSAIL
NAC has worked closely with Eric Grimson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT-CSAIL). As a member of NAC's Internal Advisory Board, Dr. Grimson contributes to the overall scientific leadership. The MIT subcontract contributes important work on segmentation and registration.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Allen Tannenbaum who is head of both the Electrical and Computer Engineering Schools at Georgia Institute of Technology has also worked closely with NAC core scientists to develop computationally efficient algorithms for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis. The Georgia Tech subcontract contributes important work to the development of a new framework for white matter tractography in high angular resolution diffusion data, among several other projects in multiscale shape representations and segmentation.
GE Global Research
James V. Miller has recently replaced Bill Lorensen as lead subcontractor from the General Electric Corporation's research and development arm (Visualization & Computer Vision Lab). GE's principal contributions are in the area of advanced visualization algorithms and software engineering. GE Research is also active in both the VTK and ITK software communities. ITK is the underlying platform used by the National Library of Medicine and is widely accepted in the medical imaging community. ITK includes a substantial collection of image processing, segmentation, and registration algorithms. VTK is the underlying toolkit for the 3D Slicer. To ensure longevity Slicer must maintain compatibility with VTK. The GE subcontract contributes important work to maintaining the compatibility of 3D Slicer with other open-source softwares, as well as to advanced visualization algorithms and software engineering needed to support NAC core research.
Future
For the foreseeable future, beyond the continued development of core research technologies, much of the Resource's focus will be devoted to keeping pace with technology-driven changes. These changes emanate from a dizzying array of advances in image acquisition and algorithm technologies that are fueled and enabled by the growth of available computational power and the rapid expansion and availability of software systems to exploit these capabilities.
Links
Organization
To view our organizational chart, see the Organization page.
Publications
Use this link to access the complete list of NAC papers and scientific presentations.
Glossary
Acronyms and terminology associated with projects and technologies mentioned on this Web Site are provided in a glossary, which also contains other technical terms related to NAC research and development.