NITRC Community News

Research and Clinical Fellowships in the Imaging Sciences

David Kennedy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 7:00:27 GMT

The Imaging Sciences Training Program (ISTP), jointly sponsored by Radiology and Imaging Sciences (RAD) in the NIH Clinical Center and the NIBIB Intramural Research Program, is accepting applications for one to two-year fellowship positions beginning in July 2010 and July 2011. This program provides an excellent opportunity for individuals who plan a research career in imaging and biomedical sciences.

The ISTP provides opportunities in clinical, translational, and basic imaging research available in Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Nuclear Medicine, Positron Emission Tomography, Interventional Radiology Laboratory, and Molecular and Cellular Imaging. The program spans research in all aspects of clinical and basic imaging sciences.

Applicants can choose to work in research areas including: neuroimaging; interventional, oncological, vascular, and metabolic imaging; and computer-aided diagnosis using various imaging techniques. There are bench-to-bedside research opportunities in MRI/MRS, MR microscopy, PET radiochemistry, contrast agent development, cellular and molecular imaging, high intensity focused ultrasound, targeted drug delivery, and innovative image processing and visualization algorithms. Qualified applicants also will be able to have clinical exposure to a unique research patient population found at the NIH. Fellows in the ISTP will have access to state-of-the-art imaging and computer facilities dedicated to research found in the Clinical Center, In Vivo NMR Research Center, and various basic science laboratories. Collaboration with imaging scientists on the NIH campus will be encouraged.

For more information about this program, visit http://www.nibib.nih.gov/About/JobVacancies.

Bassett brain dissections

Arno Klein — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 7:06:45 GMT

Stanford University is making available a very valuable collection of stereophotographs taken by William Gruber, the inventor of the View-Master, of brains painstakingly dissected over the course of 17 years by David Bassett -- 225 photographs of brains are now viewable online.

http://lane.stanford.edu/bassett/bassettView.html?bn=70-7#bassett=/bassettsView.html%3Fr%3DHead--Brain

NYTimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/science/22bass.html?_r=1

Cheers,
@rno

International Congress on Default Mode Network

viajes iberia — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 8:55:20 GMT

We are pleased to announce a forthcoming conference: Default Mode Network and other intrinsic networks in health and disease.

The last decade has seen important advances in functional brain imaging. As part of these, since 2001 there has been growing interest in default mode network, a series of interconnected brain regions which are highly active at rest but de-activate during performance of many cognitive tasks. This network appears to have important functions related to self-directed thought and is being increasingly implicated in disorders such as dementia, schizophrenia and affective disorder.

This meeting will take place in Barcelona on the 4th and 5th of June. It will bring together leading researchers on the default mode network, and will provide a forum for sharing the latest information on the rapid evolving knowledge in the field. There will be keynote speeches from Marcus Raichle and Michael Greicius, and sessions will be devoted to recent advances in understanding of the default mode network, changes across the lifespan (including aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders), and the default mode network in a range of psychiatric disorders. Connectivity and other brain networks will be also part of the programme.

This meeting will take place in Barcelona on the 4th and 5th of June. It will bring together leading researchers on the default mode network, and will provide a forum for sharing the latest information on the rapid evolving knowledge in the field. There will be keynote speeches from Marcus Raichle and Michael Greicius, and sessions will be devoted to recent advances in understanding of the default mode network, changes across the lifespan (including aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders), and the default mode network in a range of psychiatric disorders. Connectivity and other brain networks will be also part of the programme.

The conference takes place immediately before the Human Brain Mapping Conference in Barcelona and will be an official satellite of this meeting.

For more information, please visit: www.defaultmodenetwork.com

NIBIB Director Elected to National Academy of Engineering

David Kennedy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 6:02:46 GMT

Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D., Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Pettigrew was recognized for "the use of MRI in human blood-flow studies and leading advancements in bioengineering research and education as the initial director of NIBIB."

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a member of the National Academies, has peer-elected members who are among the world's most accomplished engineers and physical scientists. The NAE was founded to provide engineering leadership in service to the nation, and election to the NAE is one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. The Academy honors those who have made outstanding contributions to this scientific and educational discipline. Dr. Pettigrew is one of 68 new members elected nationwide in 2010.

With his election to the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Pettigrew becomes the first member of the NIH community to be elected to both the NAE and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an honor he received in 2007. The IOM is renowned for its research program and serves as an honorific organization whose members are elected for their excellence and professional achievements. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health.

1000 Functional Connectomes Project Script Distribution

Michael Milham — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 2:51:05 GMT

We are pleased to announce the beta-release of the scripts that supported the initial feasibility analyses recently reported in PNAS (Biswal et al., 2010). The release is comprised of a series of Unix-/Linux-based scripts that can readily batch process the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project dataset (in its entirety or any subset of sites), carrying out both image-preprocessing and individual level functional connectivity analyses.

It is our hope that the release of this set of scripts will facilitate the introduction of resting state fMRI approaches to the larger scientific community. The scripts have been modified from their original form to increase the ease of distribution and user-friendliness. Processing steps included in the scripts are the same as reported in the PNAS paper. The scripts can easily be modified by users to address individual needs.

The current release is a beta-release. Additional functionality (e.g., ALFF/fALFF) will be added in the official first release, anticipated for March 10, 2010. Any comments suggestions regarding the scripts are welcomed – an email forum is easily accessible on the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project website located on NITRC (www.nitrc.org/projects/fcon_1000).

We would like to thank Maarten Mennes and Clare Kelly for their many efforts in making this release possible.

Disclaimer: Usage of the scripts provided by 1000 Functional Connectomes Project (www.nitrc.org/projects/fcon_1000) is unrestricted. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure the accuracy of any results obtained with the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project scripts. The 1000 Functional Connectomes Project and its contributors are not responsible for the accuracy of any data obtained using the scripts provided.

OppNet Website Announcement and Funding Opportunities

David Kennedy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 3:34:26 GMT

NIH announced the launch of the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet) in November 2009. OppNet is a trans-NIH initiative to expand the agency's funding of basic behavioral and social sciences research (b-BSSR). Twenty-four ICs, including NIBIB, and five programs within the Office of the Director will integrate existing NIH efforts, target research challenges best met collectively, and collaborate on new research initiatives in complementary scientific areas supported through a pool of common funds over an initial five-year period.

Basic-BSSR furthers our understanding of fundamental mechanisms and patterns of behavioral and social functioning, relevant to the Nation’s health and well-being, as they interact with each other, with biology and the environment. Research results lead to new approaches for reducing risky behaviors and improving health.

The Goals of OppNet are to:

· Advance basic behavioral and social science research through activities and initiatives that build a body of knowledge about the nature of behavior and social systems.

· Prioritize activities and initiatives that focus on basic mechanisms of behavior and social processes; that are relevant to the missions and public health challenges of multiple NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices (ICOs); and that build upon existing NIH investments without replicating them.

The OppNet website was recently launched and can be viewed at http://oppnet.nih.gov/.

Special funding opportunity announcements supported by OppNet are listed on the website and can be accessed at http://oppnet.nih.gov/funding-current-funding.asp.

1000 Functional Connectomes Feasibility Paper Published

Michael Milham — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 1:52:03 GMT

On behalf of the inaugural members of the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project, we are pleased to announce the publication of the initial feasibility analyses for the conglomerate dataset. The manuscript is open access and can be downloaded at the site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (www.pnas.org).

The manuscript reference is:

Bharat B. Biswal, Maarten Mennes, Xi-Nian Zuo, Suril Gohel, Clare Kelly, Steve M. Smith, Christian F. Beckmann, Jonathan S. Adelstein, Randy L. Buckner, Stan Colcombe, Anne-Marie Dogonowski, Monique Ernst, Damien Fair, Michelle Hampson, Matthew J. Hoptman, James S. Hyde, Vesa J. Kiviniemi, Rolf Kötter, Shi-Jiang Li, Ching-Po Lin, Mark J. Lowe, Clare Mackay, David J. Madden, Kristoffer H. Madsen, Daniel S. Margulies, Helen S. Mayberg, Katie McMahon, Christopher S. Monk, Stewart H. Mostofsky, Bonnie J. Nagel, James J. Pekar, Scott J. Peltier, Steven E. Petersen, Valentin Riedl, Serge A. R. B. Rombouts, Bart Rypma, Bradley L. Schlaggar, Sein Schmidt, Rachael D. Seidler, Greg J. Siegle, Christian Sorg, Gao-Jun Teng, Juha Veijola, Arno Villringer, Martin Walter, Lihong Wang, Xu-Chu Weng, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Peter Williamson, Christian Windischberger, Yu-Feng Zang, Hong-Ying Zhang, F. Xavier Castellanos, and Michael P. Milham (in press). Toward discovery science of human brain function [PNAS published online before print February 22, 2010, doi:10.1073/pnas.0911855107]

Workshop on Healthcare Informatics Services (HIS 2010)

David Kennedy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 6:00:02 GMT

Call for Paper: IEEE 2010 International Workshop on Healthcare Informatics Services (HIS 2010)

EEE 2010 Health Informatics Services workshop (HIS 2010) will conjunct with ICWS/SCC/CLOUD2010. The Call for Papers (CFP) can be found at: http://proteme.org/HIS2010-cfp.html. Please use these resources to consider submissions, and please distribute it to all organizations and people which might have healthcare informatics interest.

Connectivity Database Challenge Award

David Kennedy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 8:40:42 GMT

17th International Conference on Biomagnetism - Biomag2010

March 28 - April 1, 2010

Dubrovnik, Croatia

www.biomag2010.org

The Biomag 2010 Connectivity Database Challenge Award is open for submissions. The award is an honorarium of $7,000 U.S.(to be divided among successful winners) and intended to recognize the commendable spirit of scientific data sharing shown by the contributors.

The purpose of this award is to encourage the development and validation of innovative methodologies to study structural-functional connectivity patterns underlying human sensory and cognitive processing. To this end, applicants are invited to submit structural-functional datasets. Each contributor will be featured and acknowledged on the conference website for making their database publicly available.

A letter of intent must be submitted by February 15, 2010 to maria@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu. Final application materials will be due by March 7, 2010.

For complete competition and award details, please see:
http://biomag2010.org/images/stories/2009_11_13_DatabaseCompetitionToEnableConnectivity_website.pdf

Maria Mody

Awards Committee

Workshop on Brain Decoding * CALL FOR PAPERS *

David Kennedy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 3:59:29 GMT

1st ICPR Workshop on Brain Decoding:
Pattern Recognition Challenges in Neuroimaging

* CALL FOR PAPERS *

In conjunction with the 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition, August 22, 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

http://miplab.epfl.ch/icpr2010/

Many of the challenges facing brain decoding are also highly relevant to the field of pattern recognition at large - classification of multivariate time-series, dimensionality reduction, and causal modelling to name a few.

This workshop wants to bring together researchers in pattern recognition and neuroimaging for fruitful exchanges of experiences and recent developments in brain decoding, both on the methodological side and the application side. The temporal and spatial proximity with the leading pattern recognition conference ICPR is a great opportunity to learn about newest scientific developments in order to expand brain decoding methodology.

SCOPE
The topics of interest include:
* Data representations for brain decoding (MRI/fMRI/EEG/...)
- Voxel and feature selection
- Linear and non-linear dimensionality reduction
- Sparse timecourse representations

* Classifiers for high-dimensional learning
- Regularisation schemes
- Subspace methods
- Interpretability and validation

* Applications of brain decoding
- Visual processing
- Man-machine interfaces
- Clinical applications
- Deception detection

SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS
Authors should prepare full 4-pages papers (double-column, IEEE style). Manuscripts will be evaluated by 2 reviewers.

Proceedings will be published by IEEE Computer Science Society in electronic format. They will be permantently available on the IEEExplore and IEEE CS Digital Library online repositories, and indexed in IEE INSPEC, EI Compendex (Elsevier), and others.

DATES AND DEADLINES
- April 1, 2010: Paper submission deadline
- May 1, 2010: Acceptance Notification
- May 14, 2010: Early registration deadline
- June 1, 2010: Camera-ready paper due
- August 22, 2010: Workshop

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Jonas Richiardi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Geneva (Swizerland)

Dimitri Van De Ville, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Geneva (Switzerland)

Christos Davatzikos, University of Pennsylvania (USA)

Janaina Mourão-Miranda, University College London and King's College London (UK)

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

Rafeef Abugharbieh, University of British Columbia (Canada)

Tulay Adali, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (USA)

John Ashburner, University College London (UK)

Patricia Besson, CNRS (France)

Mick Brammer, King’s College London (UK)

Vince Calhoun, Yale University (USA)

Thomas Ethofer, University of Tübingen (Germany)

Christian Gaser, University of Jena (Germany)

Ghassan Hamarneh, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

David Hardoon, Institute for Infocomm Research (Singapore)

Krzysztof Kryszczuk, IBM Research Zürich (Switzerland)

Raghu Machiraju, Ohio State University (USA)

Andre Marquand, King’s College London (UK)

Julien Meynet, Yahoo! research (France)

Torsten Möller, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

Joao Sato, Federal University of ABC (Brazil)

Sophie Schwartz, University of Geneva (Switzerland)

Stephen Strother, University of Toronto (Canada)

Bertrand Thirion, NeuroSpin Paris (France)

Marc Van Hulle, K.U. Leuven (Belgium)

Patrik Vuilleumier, University of Geneva (Switzerland)

contact: wbd2010 _AT_ listes.epfl.ch