4th Scientific Symposium on Clinical Needs, Research Promises and Technical Solutions in Ultrahigh Field Magnetic Resonance

  

we are very much delighted to announce the 4^th Scientific Symposium on Clinical Needs, Research Promises and Technical Solutions in Ultrahigh Field Magnetic Resonance, which will be held on Friday, May 31^st 2013  in Berlin, Germany. Please save the date.

Goals and ObjectivesThe symposium is designed to provide an overview of state-of-the-art (pre)clinical ultrahigh field (UHF) MR, to discuss the clinical relevance of UHF MR, to explore future directions of UHF MR, to foster explorations into ultrahigh field MR and to initiate local, regional, national and international collaboration. The symposium is designed to attract basic scientists, clinicians with all levels of experience and expertise ranging from students interested in imaging to advanced users and applications experts.

Scientific ProgramThe scientific program comprises 4 sessions, all balancing technical developments and clinical applications. We are very much honored to present extraordinary (inter)national speakers including MR technology leaders and distinguished clinical experts, all bridging disciplinary boundaries and stimulating the imaging community to throw further weight behind the solution of unsolved problems and unmet clinical needs.

Poster SessionThe scientific program will be paralleled by a poster session. We wish to encourage those of you who are prepared to walk the extra mileage. The best posters will be rewarded with a poster award. We are eagerly looking forward to your poster contributions.

Technical Exhibition and Social EventThe symposium will be supplemented by a technical exhibition, by an open day of the Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.) as well as a social event.

Pre-Symposium Workshop on RF Coil DesignThis year's symposium will be preceded by a workshop on RF coils: design, build and characterize your own. This workshop is part of the Lectures of MRI series of the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB). The RF coil workshop provides an overview of designing, constructing and testing RF coils for both animal and human scanners. Practical sessions will cover approximately ~50% of the course, in which participants will learn to build and characterize surface coils and volume resonators of their particular interests. The hands-on course is designed for basic scientists and engineers but also invites clinicians, radiographers, applications specialists and other MR users interested in gaining a better insight into RF coil technology.

Professional Child CareOn a special note; many of us know first-hand how challenging it can be to balance the needs of our families with the mission to advance science. To this end we are very pleased to offer professional child care for the course of the symposium and the social event. Please do not hesitate to contact us so that we can provide further details.

We warmly invite you to join us for the 4^th Annual Scientific Symposium on Ultrahigh Field MR in Berlin on May 31^st2013. Please save the date. A visit to Berlin is always worth it. Alongside MR science, Berlin has numerous historical landmarks, cultural highlights and sport events to offer. Be Berlin.

Thoralf Niendorf                   Jeanette Schulz-Menger          Bernd Ittertmann MDC & Charité                     Charité & Helios Clinic                    PTB
     Berlin                                      Berlin                                Berlin

SCMR-ISMRM Joint Workshop: New Horizons in Highfield Cardiovascular MR: Promise and Progress

  

  

Dear all,

On behalf of the organizing committee, the Society of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and the Cardiac MR and Highfield MR study groups of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) we would like to draw your attention to the upcoming SCMR-ISMRM Joint Workshop on

New Horizons in Highfield (B₀≥3.0 Tesla) Cardiovascular MR: Promise and Progress

which will be held on January 30^th/31^st 2013 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, San Francisco, USA.

Opportunities for presenting your work during the scientific sessions!The workshops program balances invited talks with numerous oral abstract presentations as outlined in the attached agenda. For further details please see the PDF attachment or please visitwww.scmr.org.

Abstract submission site still open!Please be advised that the abstract submission site (http://scmr2013.abstractcentral.com/)

will be open throughout November 21^st 11.59 p.m. EST.

Bridging Clinical Science and Basic ResearchThe purpose of the workshop is to connect cardiologists, radiologists, physicians, clinical scientists, basic researchers, MR engineers or physicists, cardiac MR applications specialists and MR technicians, bioengineers, physiologists and all fields related to theses disciplines with a focus on highfield MR techniques and methodology and their capabilities for advancing cardiac MR. The workshop is designed to provide a forum for disseminating information related to state-of-the-art highfield and ultrahigh field MR techniques regarding cardiovascular function, myocardial perfusion, MR angiography and flow in humans and small animals. The interdisciplinary and international faculty and audience will ensure that technologies and methodologies are communicated and shared for the purpose of advancing science and improving patient care while balancing technology developments with clinical applications and future directions.

Educational ObjectivesUpon completing this workshop, participants should be able to:

• Explain the basics of highfield cardiac MR; and identify, discuss and compare novel developments of highfield cardiac MR
• Examine and select methods used for assessment of myocardial perfusion and viability, for functional and microstructural imaging of the heart, for myocardial tissue characterization and for MR angiography and vessel wall imaging together with new dimensions in flow imaging flow at high fields
• Describe and explain challenges and differences of methods used for CMR at higher fields versus the counterparts used a lower magnetic field strengths
• Identify and summarize progress and promises of highfield CMR in small animals
• Recognize, describe and select opportunities of emerging highfield CMR technologies including early explorations into ultrahigh field CMR and real time imaging of the heart
• Discuss, practice and disseminate clinical applications of highfield CMR

We are looking forward to meet you in San Francisco,

Thoralf Niendorf, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular in Medicine, Berlin. GermanyDebiao Li, University of California Los Angeles and Cedars Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, USAPeter Kellman, Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics, NHLBI, Bethesda, USA

SOLAR-Eclipse Computational Tools for Imaging Genetics

   

   

PhD Studentship Available for October 2012

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in Statistics at the University of Warwick, funded by a NIH RO1 grant, joint with University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Title: SOLAR-Eclipse Computational Tools for Imaging Genetics

Supervisors: Dr. Thomas Nichols (Warwick) and Dr. Peter Kochunov (U. Maryland Baltimore)

Funding: Tuition fees (at UK/EU level) and tax-free stipend for a 3.5 year PhD. Stipend rises annually as per the UK Research Councils minimum rate (£13,590 for 2011/11).

Start Date: October 2012

Project Description: Imaging genetics is an exciting merger of neuroscience and genomics, looking to discover and understand the genetic variation in brain imaging phenotypes. The over-all goal of this project is to create a new imaging genetic tool, that will allow the use of imaging data with classical genetic and epigenetic epidemiological analyses such as heritability, pleiotropy, quantitative trait loci (QTL) and genome-wide association (GWAS), gene expression, and methylation analyses. The project will extend the the widely used genetics SOLAR software, creating the "SOLAR-Eclipse" toolkit.

This studentship specifically concerns the development of inference methods that account for the genomic and spatial structure in the data analyzed. In particular, multiple testing methods that account for both the spatial nature of the signal and correlated noise structure. The methods must work with both independent samples (unrelated individuals) and pedigrees (related subjects). The methods developed will be ultimately be released as a standalone application and integrated into the existing neuroscience eScience networks. Such an integrate analysis package will greatly enhance and speed up the search for genes that influence brain's neuroanatomic and functional traits and provide comprehensive tools to illustrate pathways from genes to brain structure/function. It is expected that a combination of permutation and random field theory based methods will be developed to meet these goals. Grant pending final approval; studentship conditional on grant award.

Requirements: The studentship is available to candidates with the equivalent of a first class or upper second class degree in a relevant discipline, and who meet University entry requirements (see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/gsp/prospective ).

Eligibility: UK or EU nationals. Non-EU nationals can apply, but would be responsible for the difference between UK/EU fees and international fees.

To Apply: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/postgrad/research/apply (and please notify Dr. Nichols t.e.nichols@warwick.ac.uk when application is submitted)

Deadline: Applications are considered on rolling basis, up until 31 July 2012, but priority given to applications received before 15 April.

Inquires: Specific questions on this project should be directed to Thomas Nicholst.e.nichols@warwick.ac.uk; questions on the postgraduate application process at Warwick should be directed to stats.pg.support@warwick.ac.uk

Links:

• Warwick Statistics

• Thomas Nichols

• Peter Kochunov recently moved to University of Maryland Baltimore. For more on his work see his lab's profile from U. Texas Health Science Center.

Educational Workshop on Resting State Connectivity

  

 

Magdeburg – September 3rd and 4th 2012

We are proud to announce the Resting State Educational Workshop taking place right before the 3^rd Biennial Resting State Conference – September 5-7 2012.

The 2-day educational workshop, organized together with the ESMRMB – Lectures on MR Series, will feature the most relevant subjects of resting state imaging, including physiology, data analysis, and applications. The target audience, researchers with existing knowledge on fMRI with interest to broaden and substantiate their knowledge on resting state fMRI, will get to experience focus lectures and hands on courses by international experts in the field. For more information on the program and speakers, visit www.restingstate.com. For registration, also visit http://www.esmrmb.org. The registration fee for PhD students and physicians in training is € 190 for ESMRMB members and € 285 for non-members, which includes access to the workshop, a course syllabus, full catering of lunches and coffee breaks, and a welcome dinner.

Biennial Resting State Conference

Magdeburg – September 5-7 2012.

Right after the educational course, Magdeburg will host the 3rd international resting state conference, welcoming international experts in this growing field.

The Biennial Resting State Meeting Series was initiated as an expert meeting on all aspects of this fascinating technique in Magdeburg in 2008. After the great success of our last biennial meeting in Milwaukee in 2010, the 3rd Resting State Conference now returned to the birthplace of this unique conference.

The Resting State Meeting aims at bringing together key researchers working on the physiological background or analysis of resting state data in a familial and highly interactive setting.

The sessions for both the educational course and the main conference are structured into 3 major themes: Theme 1 will deal with recent advances and methodological issues in resting state data analysis. Theme 2 will cover the physiology and physical background of low frequency fluctuations including electrophysiological correlates, the impact of physiological noise and insights from pharmacological challenges. Theme 3 will focus on applications using resting state fMRI with a specific focus on psychiatric and neurological diseases.

Growing with the field and its diversity, we invite researchers working on all related aspects of this fascinating phenomenon to share ideas and insights from their disciplines, including clinical applications.

Each day of the main conference will consist of two morning and two afternoon sessions where specific emphasis will be put on discussion and debates on hot topics and ongoing controversies in the field of resting state. Additional lunch symposia will be paralleled by poster receptions on the major fields of resting state:

Methods and Acquisition

Data Analysis

Physiology

Animal Imaging

Pharmacology

Multimodal Resting State Studies

Applications in Psychology, Neurology, Psychiatry and Neuroradiology

 

Similar to the previous meetings, the scientific program will be extended towards evening social events providing ample room for intensive interactions and communication.

Abstract submission and online registration for the 3^rd Biennial Resting State Meeting opened March 1st and abstract submission will still be possible until April 30th.

Please save the date and make sure to register in time. Abstract submission requires registration for the conference. Safe on early bird registration fees (until April 30^th): The registration fee of € 395 includes access to the full meeting, welcome reception and full catering of lunches and coffee breaks for all three days. 

The satellite educational course on September 3^rd and 4^th will be restricted to a limited number of attendees so make sure to register in time for both events.

For more information including a list of our confirmed speakers please visit www.restingstate.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates if you haven’t done so yet!

We are looking forward to see you in Magdeburg

On behalf of all organizers

Martin Walter, MD

Chair - 3^rd Biennial Resting State Conference

Clinical Affective Neuroimaging Laboratory (Canlab),

Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology &

Otto-von-Guericke-University,

Magdeburg, Germany

Ilya Veer

Co-organizer ESMRMB Resting State Educational Workshop

Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)

Leiden, The Netherlands

2012 MICCAI Grand Challenge and Workshop on Multi-Atlas Labeling

  

 

Acropolis Convention and Exhibition Centre, Nice France            October 5th, 2012 - AM Session

Website: https://masi.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/workshop2012/                      Paper submission deadline: June 12th, 2012

CALL FOR PAPERS

Multi-atlas techniques are becoming increasingly integral to numerous medical image computing approaches and are now expanding into for diverse anatomical regions. The proposed workshop will present a forum to discuss recent advances in multi-atlas techniques. The discussion will focus on new methods/applications of multi-atlas labeling and comparative evaluations of methods on a newly public, manually labeled dataset. First, we will host a discussion on methods, theory, and applications in which traditional MICCAI format papers will be solicited. Second, we will host a challenge on whole-brain labeling which will provide an opportunity to characterize multiple labels, inter-label relationships, and heterogeneous structures (sponsored by NeuroMorphometrics). Submissions will be encouraged using a limited 3-4 page format.

WORKSHOP TOPICS

* Full-length papers are invited in (but not limited to) the following areas:

* Multi-atlas registration

* Statistical methods for label fusion

* Theory and applications with discrete, continuous, or non-traditional label types

* Manifolds theory and applications for voxel, volume, surface, or non-traditional multi-atlas representations

* Atlas design, selection, and exclusion

* Multi-atlas informed and augmented approaches, including shape modeling

* Applications of multi-atlas methods for segmentation and labeling

* Visualization and hypothesis exploration approaches using multi-atlases

Manuscripts may not be accepted at the main conference or submitted to any other MICCAI 2012 workshop.

ORGANIZERS

Bennett Landman, Vanderbilt University

Simon Warfield, Harvard Medical School

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Paul Aljabar, Imperial College London; Dzung Pham, Henry M. Jackson Foundation; Hakmook Kang, Vanderbilt University; Arno Klein, Columbia University; Torsten Rohlfing, Stanford University; Dinggang Shen UNC Chapel Hill; T. Robin Langerak, Utrecht University ; Paul Thompson, UCLA; Paul Yushkevich, UPENN

IMPORTANT DATES

Technical Manuscripts Due (Extended MICCAI Format) - 6/12/2012

Challenge Testing Procedure Available - 6/1/2012-6/8/2012

Challenge Manuscripts Due (Abbreviated MICCAI Format) - 6/12/2012

We look forward to seeing you in Nice!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bennett Landman, Ph.D., bennett.landman@vanderbilt.edu

Assistant Professor

     Department of Electrical Engineering (primary)

     Department of Biomedical Engineering

     Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

     Vanderbilt University, School of Engineering

Director of the Center for Computational Imaging

     Vanderbilt University Institute of Image Science

Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) Sample

 

 

The International Neuroimaging Data-Sharing Initiative (INDI), in coordination with the Child Mind Institute, announces the public release of the "Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) Sample" via the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project (http://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/indi/abide/index.html).

 

Drs. Adriana Di Martino (NYU Child Study Center; consortium coordinator) and Stewart Mostofsky (Kennedy Krieger Institute) have assembled ABIDE as an international consortium explicitly dedicated to the sharing of previously collected resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) and morphometric data for autism. To date, the effort has brought together 20 samples from 16 contributing sites, yielding an aggregate dataset of 539 individuals with autism and 573 typical controls. The effort builds upon the model of the highly successful ADHD-200 Consortium (http://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/indi/adhd200/), though providing an extensive array of phenotypic characterizations common to nearly all sites, that far exceeds it predecessor. Key diagnostic and assessment schedules (e.g., ADOS, ADIS), psychometric testing (e.g., IQ) and a variety of additional questionnaires, commonly employed in the autism community, are being shared along with brain imaging data.

 

In addition to distributing ABIDE datasets in .tar and .csv file formats via NITRC as is customary for the FCP, the INDI team has recruited the efforts of leading informatics platforms including COINS: http://coins.mrn.org; LORIS: http://cbrain.mcgill.ca/loris; LONI IDA: http://pipeline.loni.ucla.edu/; NITRC-IR/XNAT: http://www.nitrc.org/ir. They have each agreed to host the ABIDE datasets prepared by the INDI team. Such coordination is intended to give users an opportunity to sample emerging technologies and explore the value of these platforms not only for sharing, but also for their own internal infrastructure.

INDI SUMMER OF SHARING 2012: UPDATE & CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

THE INTERNATIONAL NEUROIMAGING DATA-SHARING INITIATIVE (INDI) SUMMER OF SHARING 2012: UPDATE & CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

 

The INDI team is pleased to provide an update on the Summer of Sharing.  Intended to draw attention to emerging open science initiatives in the imaging community, and to encourage increased involvement in the sharing of data and analytic resources, the INDI Summer of Sharing has a growing number of data pledges and openly available analytic tools you should know about. To learn more, check out:  http://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/indi/summerofsharing2012.html

 

Keep in mind, the summer is not over yet – you still have time…So, GET INVOLVED! Do you have…

-       a resource that you’d like to advertise? Let us know and we'll list it.

-       A published dataset that you’d like to share with your colleagues around the world? We'd be happy to help – whether it be sharing it for you through the FCP/INDI or letting others know where you are releasing it from.

-       An open science event that you want everyone to hear about? We'll pass the word along.

 

Contact us at INDI_SummerOfSharing@childmind.org to make a pledge or learn more about how to get involved.

International Summer School and Workshop on Brain Dynamics

  

  

International Summer School and Workshop on Brain Dynamics

Turunc, Marmaris, Turkey

July 23-28, 2012

International Summer School and Workshop on Brain dynamics aims to highlight state of the art topics in the study of functional and behavioral dynamics as well as complexities of the brain by bringing together experts from a variety of interdisciplinary fields involving neuroscience, neurotechnology, engineering, medicine, computer science, mathematics and physics. This summer school and workshop aims to reach senior and junior researchers, scientists, engineers, clinicians, mathematicians, physicists, biologists and students and to inform them about the recent advances in brain dynamics research by bringing them together with experts in the field.

The summer school and workshop will cover the following themes:

• cognitive neuroscience,  neuroimaging and neuroanatomy 
• information processing and neuromodeling,
• neural dysfunction and mental health,
• neurorehabilitation and neurolearning

Deadline for Registration is June 22, 2012

More information on the lecturers, registration and deadlines for the International Summer School and Workshop on Brain Dynamics  can be reached at http://itap-tthv.org/braindynamics2012.

We are looking forward to see you at this exciting and educational event.

Sincerely,

Meltem Izzetoglu, PhD

Chair, Program Committee

ITAP,  Summer School and Workshop on Brain Dynamics

Drexel University

Sch. of Biomedical Engineering

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Tel:( 215) 895-1988

Fax: (215) 895-4983

Email: meltem@coe.drexel.edu

3rd Biennial Conference on Resting State Brain Connectivity

  

Third Biennial Conference on Resting State Brain Connectivity 

 5 – 7 September, 2012 

Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany. 

 

 http://www.restingstate.com/

The Biennial Resting State Meeting series were initiated in Magdeburg 2008. After the great success of our last biennial meeting in Milwaukee 2010, it is a great pleasure to anounce the return of the 3rd Resting State Conference to europe and to the birthplace of this unique conference.

This meeting series is intended to bring together key researchers working on the physiological background or analysis of resting state data in a familial and highly interactive setting. 

During our 3day schedule we will focus on physical, physiological, statistical and psychological implications of rs-fMRI and try to use the forum to define future directions of research.

Growing with the field and it's diversity, we invite researchers working on all related aspects of this fascinating phenomenon to share insights from their disciplines, including clinical applications.

Purdue University - Faculty Opening in Integrated Imaging

Purdue University College of Engineering and College of Science  

Faculty Opening in Integrated Imaging

Purdue University’s College of Engineering and College of Science have identified imaging as a major thrust for cross-disciplinary research and education and are accepting applications for tenured and tenure track faculty (Assistant and Associate Professor) in this area. Imaging research has become the key to progress in fields such as medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, earth and atmospheric science; and the resulting technologies are addressing major human needs in healthcare, medicine, security, manufacturing, and communication. Purdue University has embarked on a new “integrated-imaging” initiative to exploit the synergy between science and engineering, algorithms and devices, sensors and applications. This initiative will build on strengths and leverage the imaging capabilities of both Purdue Colleges and Purdue’s Discovery and Research Parks.

Candidates must hold a Ph.D. degree in Engineering, Science or a related field.  They should have a distinguished academic record, exceptional potential for world-class research, and a commitment to teach in both undergraduate and graduate programs. Specific research fields of interest in the integrated-imaging cluster include, but are not limited to electron and light microscopy, whole body imaging, image processing, inverse methods, multimodal imaging, hyperspectral imaging, and sensor systems. The successful candidate will teach undergraduate and graduate courses in topics related to integrated imaging, conduct research in their field of expertise, publish and present research findings, participate in professional activities, and advise graduate student research.  The primary faculty appointment will be in a school of the College of Engineering or a department of the College of Science, and will depend on the candidate’s qualifications.

Submit your application online at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/Employment/Applications. The application should include a cover letter, a complete and detailed vitae, and statements of research and teaching interests. Also, please include names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses for three or more references. For questions regarding the application process, please contact Marion Ragland (ragland@purdue.edu). Screening of applications will begin May 3, 2012 and will continue until the position is filled. A background check will be required for employment in this position.

INDI SUMMER OF SHARING 2012

   

 

THE INTERNATIONAL NEUROIMAGING DATA-SHARING INITIATIVE (INDI) SUMMER OF SHARING 2012

 http://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/

 

Open science initiatives are transforming the neuroimaging community.  Researchers who once struggled to obtain 20-30 datasets now have unrestricted access to thousands of scans, including data obtained from developing, aging and clinical populations.  Equally important, the sharing of data analysis scripts and code is becoming increasingly common, thereby enhancing the dissemination of knowledge and capabilities among laboratories – as well as facilitating replication efforts. Although exciting, we are only at the beginning. The success of open science initiatives remains dependent upon continued community participation.

 

Against this background, the International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (INDI) is pleased to announce the launch of its 2012 Summer of Sharing – an effort dedicated to the sustenance and acceleration of data and analytic resource sharing among imaging community members.  In order to accomplish its goal the INDI Summer of Sharing initiative is requesting pledges for the contribution of:

 

1) DATA: Resting state fMRI and/or diffusion data employed in published studies, along with any available meta-data you’d like to share (See INDI Retro for previously shared datasets; examples include Kelly C. et al., 2011 Bio Psych, Keller C. et al., 2011 PNAS, and Power J. et al., 2012 Neuroimage).

2) ANALYTIC RESOURCES:  Python, Matlab, BASH, C/C++ - we’re not choosy! INDI is actively promoting the sharing of analytic scripts and codes employed in published and/or ongoing studies through NITRC and GitHub – if you post them, we’ll help to make sure you’re recognized for it.

3) OPEN SCIENCE EVENTS: Just provide us the information and we’ll help to get the word out!

4) MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES: Atlases, parcellation schemes, reference resources, etc. – everyone can benefit from them.

 

We are actively asking investigators around the world to get involved in the sharing process. Already, the following resources are scheduled for sharing this summer:

1) The Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE): a global, multisite consortium of laboratories dedicated to the study of autism that will release an aggregate dataset that is expected to consist of nearly 500 individuals with autism, and their matched typically developing controls.

2) The Enhanced NKI Rockland Sample: a recently launched large-scale, R-fMRI and DTI cross-sectional, community ascertained sample of individuals between 6 and 85 years of age, accompanied by a deep phenotypic protocol that broadly samples psychiatrically relevant behavioral domains.

3) Brainhack: a Neuro-Bureau resource (http://brainhack.org/) that points to collaborative projects in the field; the resource will be complemented by the Brainhack 2012 Unconference – a workshop that will blend the “unconference” and “hackathon” concepts to create a unique collaborative experience for participants interested in advancing analytic techniques and resources for functional and structural imaging.

4) The Configurable Pipeline for the Analysis of Connectomes (C-PAC): Building on the success of the release of the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project analysis scripts, the INDI team will be releasing a plug-and-play Nipype-based pipeline package that is easily configurable to accomplish a broad array of resting-state fMRI analyses.

5) DPARSF and REST: With the new releases of MATLAB-based user-friendly pipelines of Data Processing Assistant for Resting-State fMRI (DPARSF 2.2) and Resting-State fMRI Data Analysis Toolkit (REST 1.8) (www.restfmri.net), users can acquire resting-state fMRI measures efficiently (by parallel computing) and conveniently (by GUI or command line).

6) Power et al. 2011 (Neuron): The authors are now sharing the summary community assignments from their work on fcMRI networks (http://sumsdb.wustl.edu/sums/directory.do?id=8293343&dir_name=power_Neuron11), and will release a suite of scripts through NITRC this summer, so that others can replicate these analyses and carry out related work. Additionally, later this summer, the dataset used for this work will be released through INDI.

7) The Child Mind Institute (CMI) Librarian Initiative: Comprehensive hand-vetted and sorted reference libraries for various literatures, including Resting State fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging are now available via Mendeley, with monthly updates scheduled (http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/cmi-librarian/).

 

It is our hope that this list is just the beginning. We will follow with updates throughout the summer months. The success of open science depends on all of us – so get involved, and Share That Brain!

 

Contact us at INDI_SummerOfSharing@childmind.org to make a pledge or learn more about how to get involved.

 

The International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (INDI) is now sponsored by the Child Mind Institute (http://childmind.org).

Third International Workshop on Polarized Carbon-13 and its Application in Metabolic Imaging

    
   
We are pleased to inform you that the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine will be hosting the Third International Workshop on Polarized Carbon-13 and its Application in Metabolic Imaging. The workshop is scheduled from July 25 through July 27, 2012 and will be held in the BRB II/III auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania.  

This is a three day workshop and sessions are aimed at providing faculty members, post-docs, fellows, and graduate students the opportunity to learn more about state-of-the-art metabolic and molecular imaging techniques and how they can be used to obtain real-time information for fundamental studies of metabolism and extended application to disease management.

Please share this information with your faculty, colleagues and trainees.  

For information on how to register and send abstracts, please look at:     

http://www.med.upenn.edu/fmig/workshop2012.html

Rahim R. Rizi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Radiology

NEURO-BUREAU BRAIN-ART COMPETITION 201

http://www.neurobureau.org/BrainArt/

Submission Deadline: 11:59PM CDT, Friday, June 1st, 2012

Award Notification: June 11th during the OHBM Annual Meeting, Beijing.

In order to recognize the beauty and creativity of artistic renderings

emerging from the neuroimaging community, we are launching the second

annual Brain-Art Competition.

Countless hours are devoted to the creation of informative

visualizations for communicating neuroscientific findings. The

Brain-Art Competition aims to recognize this often unappreciated

aspect of the publication process, and highlight the artistic

creativity of our community.

We are inviting researchers to submit their favorite unpublished works

for entry. Both team and single-person entries are welcomed. The

competition will have four award categories:

1)  Best Representation of the Human Connectome

2)  Best Educational Brain Illustration

3)  Best Abstract Brain Illustration

4)  Best Humorous Brain Illustration

5)  Best Video Illustration of the Brain

Sponsored by: Child Mind Institute (http://www.childmind.org/)

ICML '12 Workshop on Statistics, Machine Learning and Neuroscience

ICML '12 Workshop on Statistics, Machine Learning and Neuroscience. 
Date: July 1, 2012
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
https://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/stamlins
 
Neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have revolutionised the field of neuroscience by providing non-invasive measurements of the brain activity. From the outset, classical statistical approaches were used for neuroimage analysis, using known models,  offering good interpretability and the possibility to examine strength of hypotheses. Recently, however, analysis emphasis has changed towards data-driven (aka machine learning/multi-variate pattern analysis) approaches. By making minimal model assumptions, the learning algorithms are generally tuned for optimal prediction performance, automation and speed. 

A debate has ensued between the two respective strands of researchers about the relative benefits and downsides of each approach. The critique of data-driven methods, voiced by practitioners of classical statistics, include lack of interpretability/meaningfulness, non-existent power calculation for experimental design, and inability to deal with the "small N-large p" constraint.  Conversely, users of data-driven methods point to the inappropriateness of the model choice for biological data, the arbitrariness of significance levels, and the post-hoc corrections for multiple hypothesis tests.

The propose of this workshop is to bring together both approaches. The aim is to debate the strengths/weaknesses of classical statistical vs machine learning methods, and establish the parameters that would bring together hypothesis and data-driven approaches. While this workshop is to be driven by the practical needs of neuroscience research, more fundamental research into methods is also envisaged. Simultaneously, we expect that the need for improved methods will spark substantial contributions towards Predictive Medicine, Translational Medicine and Interpretational Models of Disease. For this purpose we have invited well-known experts and researchers in neuroscience methodology and application, notably Will Penny, Tom Nicholson, Zoe Kourtzi, and Eugene Duff. 

We seek full papers and extended abstracts discussing or developing new methods designed to link hypothesis generalisation, experimental design and hypothesis validation. Example topics include
   - Interpretable neuroimage modelling/model validation,
   - Experimental design and power analysis (also for machine learning),
   - Variable selection / dimensionality reduction / sparsity,
   - Scalability/efficient/parallel (Bayesian) inference,
   - Model reproducibility and testing of  computational  theories, 
   - Combined modelling of cellular neurophysiology, genetics, and behaviour,
   - Model selection in Bayesian and Classical methods,
   - Issues and experiences in implementing models for massive data-sets,
   - New models for Independent Component Analysis,
   - Classifiers and Brain Decoding.

Workshop Schedule
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To achieve a 4-way interdisciplinary workshop, four invited speakers have agreed to give talks representing respectively, classical statistical methodologies, machine learning methodologies, applications of classical statistical tools and applications of machine learning tools. The preliminary workshop's schedule is as follows:

-  Zoe Kourtzi  (invited speaker): application of data-driven methods
-  Eugene Duff (invited speaker): application of hypothesis-driven methods
-  Discussion
-  Will Penny (invited speaker): data-driven methodology
-  Tom Nicholson (invited speaker): hypothesis-driven methodology
-  Discussion
-  Lunch
-  Spotlight presentations 
-  Poster session
-  Discussion & roundup 


Submission Details
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We seek submission of extended abstracts at most 4 pages long and following the ICML paper format. All accepted submissions will be presented in form of poster presentations.
 
 
Important Dates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Extended abstract submission deadline: 13th May, 2012. 
Acceptance notification: 21th May, 2012. 

Workshop date: July 1, 2012.


Workshop Organisation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Workshop Organisers:

Iead Rezek, University of Oxford, UK 
Evangelos Roussos, University of Oxford, UK
Christian Beckmann,  MIRA Institute at the University of Twente,  Netherlands.


Program Committee

Will Penny, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, UK
Tom Nichols, University of Warwick
Zoe Kourtzi, University of Birmingham
Eugene Duff, University of Oxford

Contact:
~~~~~~~
iead@rezek.info, eroussos7@yahoo.co.uk