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Neuroimage Analysis Center |
Overview of the NAC |
The Neuroimaging Analysis Center (NAC) develops image processing and analysis techniques for basic and clinical neurosciences. The NAC research approach emphasizes both specific core technologies and collaborative application projects.
Core technologies of the NAC consist of algorithms and techniques for segmenting brain structures, registration methods for associating image data to patient anatomy or one set of image data to another, visualization tools to display anatomical structures and quantitative information, software and hardware infrastructures for high performance computing, and digital anatomy atlases for both interactive and algorithmic computational tools. Although the emphasis of the NAC is on the dissemination of concepts and techniques, specific elements of the core technologies may be made available to outside researchers or the community at large.
These technologies serve the following major collaborative projects as part of the NAC: Alzheimer's Disease and the aging brain, morphometric measures in Schizophrenia and Schizotypal Disorder, quantitative analysis of Multiple Sclerosis, and interactive, image-based planning and guidance in Neurosurgery. One or more NAC investigators has been designated as responsible for each of the core technologies and the collaborative projects.
The research work of the NAC is supported by a large, modern network of over 250 computer workstations, a 19 terabyte network attached storage (NAS) array, 8 dedicated infrastrucure servers, four 4-processor computation servers, a 24-processor computation server, and a six-processor graphic visualization server, capable of both 2D and 3D display. All workstations have ample memory and graphics hardware for interactive manipulation and processing of large medical data sets. Dedicated or direct network access is available to BWH's clinical MRI and CT scanners, the hospital's radiology patient databases, and an open-MRI surgical suite. A firewall-based security system prevents unauthorized access to confidential patient data. A computer outside the firewall acts as a web server to permit the dissemination of results and other documentation, the distribution of software, and a location for data exchange with outside collaborators.
The core technologies of NAC consist of custom, internally-developed software algorithms, libraries, and applications that are available to support collaborating projects. When possible, this software is built on open software standards such as TCP/IP networking, HTTP web protocols, and the OpenGL graphics library and widely available underlying libraries including the Java programming language and the Visualization Toolkit (VTK).
Ron Kikinis, M.D.
(617) 732-7692
Fax: (617) 582-6033
E-mail: kikinis@bwh.harvard.edu
Ferenc A. Jolesz, M.D
(617) 732-5961
Fax: (617) 582-6033
E-mail: jolesz@bwh.harvard.edu
Ron Kikinis, M.D.
(617) 732-7389
Fax: (617) 582-6033
E-mail: kikinis@bwh.harvard.edu