Automated Alignment of MRI Rodent Brain to Sterotaxic Atlases

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This grant application, Automated Alignment of MRI rodent brain to Stereotaxic Atlases, is an R03 application in response to PAR-07-417, Neuroimaging Informatics Software Enhancement for Improved Interoperability and Dissemination. The grant proposes to modify an existing analysis stream that has been optimized for functional MRI in rodents, so that it can be widely distributed to the neuroimaging community. In particular, software will be provided to automate registration of MRI data to standardize and widely used stereotaxic coordinate systems in the rodent, and to provide the means for transcribing anatomical regions, based upon histology, from the atlases to the MRI data. Additional analysis tools, including a 4-dimensional display with integrated first-level and second-level functional analyses using the general linear model, will be distributed as well. Software modifications must be performed to enhance interoperability by using standard data formats, to ensure integration with other analysis packages, to automate conversion of proprietary atlases to a suitable format, and to establish version control and web-based user reporting. Software will be distributed as open source for multiple platforms. Completion will provide widely useful tools for all investigators engaged in functional or anatomical MRI. These tools will form a bridge from rodent data acquisition to the more extensive analysis packages that have been developed for human MRI, thus improving the quality of rodent neuro-imaging and lowering a technical barrier for translational studies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Rodents are the most commonly employed animal model for pre-clinical studies of normal biology and pathology, and MRI is an important non-invasive imaging tool for both pre-clinical and clinical work. The proposed software project will form a bridge between pre-clinical MRI of the rodent brain and analysis tools developed for human MRI, thereby improving the quality of rodent neuro-imaging and lowering a technical barrier for translational studies.