Procedure for Initiating Collaborations and Service Activities

NAC interacts with outside researchers through collaboration and service activities. Technical innovation in NAC is driven by the collaboration between the Technical Research and Development cores (TR&Ds) and a network of key collaborating projects (CPs) and service projects (SPs) across the USA and Canada. The projects span the fields of radiology, neurosurgery, neurology, pediatrics, psychology, and more. 

If you are interested in interacting with NAC or if you have questions about NAC resources, please contact the center directors.

Service and collaboration requests are reviewed internally by NAC leadership. We will need information about what issue you need help with and why you think that NAC can help you. We will discuss your request internally and work with you to come up with a plan that is mutually beneficial.

Description of Service and Collaboration Activities

We are using here terminology as defined the PAR for BTRC's.

Service activities focus on giving outside researchers access to the results of the research performed within the center and providing resources, including access to scientific publications, tutorials and web-based support. The inclusion of new SPs is based on the relevance and fit of their neuroimage analysis research goals, as well as their interest and need for the resource center for expert consultation, access to software, and technical support. The SPs may arise organically as an outgrowth of our training and dissemination efforts, as well as via interactions at international scientific conferences. Rotation of an existing SP will be considered when these inclusion criteria are not fully met, or if an alternative SP is thought to be a more appropriate and potentially clinically significant application for NAC technologies. 

Collaborations activities with our partner projects foster the evaluation of the clinical validity and of the utility of algorithms and methods for specific medical applications. CPs often begin as SPs and then mature to CPs when the intensity of interaction increases. CPs serve the function of identifying technical problems that can be addressed through technology research using the expertise available in the TR&Ds. CP enable this by sharing data and use-case scenarios with NAC investigators. NAC scientists then investigate technologies capable of solving these biomedical challenges.