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

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.

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.

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).

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

The 2012 International Workshop on Brain, Cognition and Learning (IWBCL2012)

Please see below the announcement of the pre-OHBM workshop on Brain,
Cognition and Learning, to be held on June 8-9, Beijing, China

The 2012 International Workshop on Brain, Cognition and Learning (IWBCL2012)

June 8-9, 2012, Beijing, China

http://iwbcl.bnu.edu.cn

 We are pleased to announce that the 2012 International Workshop on
Brain, Cognition and Learning (IWBCL) will be held on June 8-9, 2012
at the China National Conventional Center (CNCC) in Beijing, as a
satellite conference of 2012 Organization of Human Brain Mapping
(OHBM) Annual Conference. This workshop is co-organized by the
National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning,
Beijing Normal University and the Society of Brain Sciences and
Education Research, a division of the Chinese Society of Education
(CSE).

 This year the IWBCL will focus on language learning. The theme for
this workshop is set as “Towards an integrated perspective of language
learning”, to reflect the trend that the cognitive neuroscience of
language has increasingly become an interdisciplinary endeavor.

 Confirmed Speakers.

§   Yanchao Bi, Beijing Normal University

§   James Booth, Northwestern University

§   Urs Maurer, University of Zurich

§   Marcus Meinzer,  Charite Universitasmedizin

§   Russell A. Poldrack, University of Texas at Austin

§   Bradley L. Schlaggar, Washington University School of Medicine

§   Mark Seidenberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison

§   Hua Shu, Beijing Normal University

§   Michael Ullman, Georgetown University

§   Richard J. Wise, Imperial College London

§   Gui Xue, Beijing Normal University

§   Jason D. Zevin, Weill Medical College of Cornell University



Participants are encouraged to fill the online registration form by
May 1, 2012 to secure a seat. For more information, please visit our
website http://iwcbl.bnu.edu.cn . We look forward to seeing you in
Beijing this June!

2012 Brainhack, Sept 1-4, Leipzig Germany

  

The Neuro Bureau is proud to announce the 2012 Brainhack, to be held from September 1-4 at the Max Plank Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.

Brainhack is a unique workshop with the goals of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and open neuroscience. The structure builds from the concepts of an unconference and a hackathon: The term “unconference” refers to the fact that most of the content will be dynamically created by the participants -- a hackathon is an event where participants collaborate intensively on science-related projects.

Participants from all disciplines related to neuroimaging are welcome. Ideal participants span in range from graduate students to professors across any disciplines willing to contribute (e.g., mathematics, computer science, engineering, neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, medicine, art, etc...). The primary requirement is a desire to work in close collaborations with researchers outside of your specialization in order to address neuroscience questions that are beyond the expertise of a single discipline.

Brainhack will last 3.5 days, with the first night being dedicated to registration, a brief introduction of participants, and a poster session / cocktail hour. Each of the next two days will begin with an “Ignite Session” in which distinguished neuroscience researchers will give 10 minute talks that will address wide questions in neuroscience that would benefit from open, interdisciplinary collaborations. The “Ignite Session” will be followed by a dynamic set of talks organized by attendees. This session will be scheduled on-site, and aims to reflect participants' interests as they evolve over the course of the workshop. Each afternoon and evening will then include a brainhack session, in which participants will be encouraged to work together in small groups on relevant neuroscience projects. The workshop will culminate on the last day, when participants will have the opportunity to present a brief overview of their project.

We aim for Brainhack to be a highly dynamic event. As such, participants are encouraged to come prepared to discuss their research interests and work in ways that they may be able to contribute to the unconference portion of the workshop. In addition, there will be an opportunity for participants to present posters on Saturday night. If you are interested in doing so, please indicate this on the registration form so that we can be sure to have poster space allocated.

In order to maximize the productivity of the hackathon portion of Brainhack, we encourage participants to come with potential (or established) collaborators and projects in mind, as well as the data and tools required for the project. Participants are encouraged to advertise projects, or shop for a team of collaborators at thebrainhack.org web site prior to the conference. We will have preprocessed copies of the ADHD200 competition dataset, as well as other datasets publicly released through the International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (structural, resting state fMRI, and DTI) available onsite. Participants will be encouraged to make results from their Brainhack experience openly available on a resource such as NITRC or github.

To maximize collaborative opportunities between participants all meals will be provided onsite (cost included in registration).

Important Dates

Registration Deadline: 30 July 2012
Payment Deadline: 7 August 2012
Final Program: 30 August 2012

Program

Click here to view the current schedule.

While the schedule provides the basic structure, the content will be primary determined by the participants onsite.

Confirmed Attendees

F. Xavier Castellanos, Helen Mayberg, Michael P. Milham, Tal Yarkoni, Arno Villringer...

Organizing Committee

Brainhack.org and the Brainhack workshop are initiates of The Neuro Bureau.

• Pierre Bellec (Centre de recherche de l’institut de gériatrie de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Canada)
• Cameron Craddock (Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, USA)
• Daniel Margulies (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, DE)
• Donald McLaren (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA).
• Maarten Mennes (Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, The Netherlands)

2nd Provence Summer Workshop: Molecules & Networks

   

 

Dear friends and colleagues

It is my pleasure to announce details for the 2^nd Provence Summer Workshop (Sat 1^st September – Tues 4^th September 2012), with this year’s theme ‘Molecules & Networks’.

Following on from the great success of our first Workshop, we will once again meet at the beautiful Domaine des Escaunes set in the heart of Provence, France.

We are also delighted to highlight the involvement of our two international guest speakers – Professor Ed Bullmore from Cambridge University (UK) and Professor Mirjana Maletic-Savatic from Baylor Medical College (USA).

This year’s Workshop is certain to be over-subscribed, so register now and take advantage of our early-bird rates. Even better, get involved by presenting your work – submit an abstract for consideration by our scientific committee.

Abstract deadline and Early Bird Registration deadline is 1^st May 2012.

Please visit http://rng.org.au/2nd_provance_workshop.html for more information or to register.

I look forward to seeing you in Provence this summer! And feel free to pass this message on to anyone who may be interested.

Regards

Michael Valenzuela

Neural interactions and affect: basic & clinical perspectives Conference

Neural interactions and affect: basic & clinical perspectives
Conference at the University of Reading, United Kingdom
16-17th April, 2012

The last decade has seen an unprecedented expansion in research on the
neural basis of human emotions and affective disorders. Distinct brain
regions have been linked to reward, motivation, threat and aversion,
largely through neuroimaging studies building on knowledge gained from
studies of other animals. Changes in the functioning of these regions
have been linked to a number of mood and affective disorders.
Recently, scientists have become interested in how the dynamic
interactions between multiple neural systems give rise to our
emotions, and motivate and modulate our behaviours and decisions. Such
time-dependent processes occur on scales ranging from milliseconds in
the case of neuronal interactions, through seconds in learning,
conditioning and habituation, through to years in the case of the
lifetime development and decline.

This symposium brings together basic and clinical scientists from a
variety of fields who approach the topic from different perspectives.
The objective is to provide a richly interactive environment for
scientific interchange between biological, medical, psychological and
physical scientists interested in new perspectives and techniques to
push forward research in the field.

Over the two days, a mix of keynote lectures, workshops and poster
sessions will encourage interaction between senior and junior
researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. A large amount of
time dedicated to discussion will be a feature of all the symposium
sessions.

Confirmed Invited Speakers
Sonia Bishop, UC Berkeley/ University of Oxford
Gilles Pourtois, Ghent University, Belgium
Rudi de Raedt, Ghent University, Belgium
Henrik Walter, Medical University Charité, Berlin, Germany
Martin Walter, Medical University Magdeburg, Germany
Paul Whalen, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA

News of further speakers will be forthcoming.

Registration
Registration is free for research staff and postgraduate students of
non-profit/academic research institutions
To register, please send an email with the subject line "April Neural
Interactions Conference" to CINN@reading.ac.uk with the following
information:

Name
Affiliation
Position (PhD, Postdoc, Ass. Prof. etc)
Topic of Research

In addition, there will be a poster session and a limited number of
places for spoken presentations. If you wish to present either a
poster or a talk, please include a title, authors, preference for
poster or talk, and 250 word abstract. Those who request a talk who
can't be accommodated will be allocated to a poster session.

Travel and accommodation will need to be arranged by attendees.
Reading is well served by train (25 minutes from central London, 35
minutes from Oxford) and is a 35 minute bus ride from Heathrow
Airport. Reading has a variety of hotel accommodation available - more
information will be circulated in the coming days. The University
campus is a short taxi ride from the centre of town. Regular buses
also serve the university, or for those who enjoy some exercise, it is
a pleasant 40 minute walk.

This conference is made possible with the support of the EPSRC, BBSRC & CINN.

Symposium for Neuroimaging Advances in Paediatrics (SNAP)

Title:        Symposium for Neuroimaging Advances in Paediatrics (SNAP)
Date:       Friday 4th May 
Venue:     Ella Latham Theatre,  Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington
Rd, Parkville

Registrations open Monday 20th February  www.trybooking.com/20955 
Numbers strictly limited.
For more information contact 2012snap@gmail.com 

You are invited to take this rare opportunity to learn from
internationally renowned speakers and to network with others in the
field. This one-day symposium will equip you with 10 Things you should
know about... atlas construction, voxel based morphometry, fMRI and
resting state data analysis, diffusion weighted imaging, perfusion
imaging, and more! The symposium will also cover applications of
paediatric neuroimaging, including 10 things neuroimaging has told us
about... neurodevelopment, premature birth and childhood head injury.

Guest speakers include:  
-        Marko Wilke (Children’s Hospital, University of Tübingen) 
-        Gareth Barker (Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London)
-        Mark Jenkinson (FMRIB Centre, University of Oxford)
-        Clare Kelly (New York University)
-        Derek Jones (Cardiff University)
-        Fernando Calamante (Brain Research Institute)
-        Rhoshel Lenroot (University of New South Wales)
-        Vicki Anderson (Murdoch Childrens Research Institute)

HIVE Workshop Berlin 2012 on Brain Stimulation

 

Hyper-Interaction Viability Experiments Workshop

http://hive-eu.org/hive2012/home

Could computers someday interact directly with the human brain? This is the motto of the HIVE project. The goal of the workshop is to present research toward developing a new generation of powerful and controllable non-invasive brain stimulation technologies.

We hereby invite contributions to this second public HIVE workshop,  to be held in Berlin on April 27-28th, 2012. Submission deadline for Abstracts is 11th March.

Contributions must be of a high scientific level, and typically would describe, attempt to understand, or engineer brain stimulation phenomena as well as clinical applications. Submission page instructions are here: http://hive-eu.org/node/317

Researchers with new results working in any the following research areas are encouraged to submit abstracts:

-Biophysical models of current flow in the brain
-Neuron-current interaction models
-Inverse modeling of neural activity
-Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) for communication
-tDCS, tACS, TMS experimental results
-Neurofeedback and neuromodulation
-Real-time EEG monitoring
-EEG-fMRI relationships
-Brain stimulation for therapy (sleep, improved consciousness)
-New technologies (hardware, software, algorithms) for hyper-interaction or CBI

Submitted papers will be rated by the scientific committee on quality and relevance to the goals of HIVE. The best papers will be awarded with an oral presentation, and the remaining papers may be presented as posters and will be discussed during breaks or at the end of the day. We look forward to an exciting conference with most stimulating discussions.  Best abstracts and presentations will be selected for publication in a Special Issue of the journal "Physiological Measurement": http://iopscience.iop.org/0967-3334/

2nd International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in NeuroImaging (PRNI 2012)

CALL FOR PAPERS

2nd International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in NeuroImaging (PRNI 2012)


Multivariate and predictive analysis of neuroimaging data has gained ground
very rapidly in the community over the past few years, leading to impressive
results in cognitive, affective, and clinical neurosciences. Innovations in
machine learning, such as mixed-norm regularisation, multiple kernel learning,
and online learning have been incorporated swiftly, and novel methods are 
emerging which are specifically tuned to the constraints of neuroimaging data,
prompting advances in areas such as structured sparsity or covariate
modelling. Pattern recognition and machine learning conferences now typically
feature a neuroimaging workshop, while neuroscience and brain imaging
meetings dedicate sessions and track to "brain decoding" and multivariate
predictive methods. Thus, a rich two-way flow has been established between
disciplines.

After Istanbul (Workshop on Brain Decoding 2010) and Seoul
(PRNI 2011), it is the intention of the 2nd International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in NeuroImaging to continue facilitating exchange of ideas between scientific communities, with a particular interest in the link between mass-univariate, post-hoc modelling and multivariate predictive models.

** Topics of interest
PRNI welcomes original papers on multivariate predictive models of
neuroimaging data, using e.g. fMRI, sMRI, EEG, MEG, ECoG modalities,
including but not limited to the following topics:

* Learning from neuroimaging data
Online, incremental, and adaptive learning
Modality combinations
Optimisation and regularisation
Graph-based techniques and graphical models

* Interpretability of models and results
High-dimensional data visualisation
Multivariate and multiple hypothesis testing
Links between brain structure and function
Summarisation / presentation of inference results

* Applications
Disease diagnosis and prognosis
Real-time fMRI
Resting-state modelling
Cognitive neurosciences


** Submission Guidelines and Proceedings
Authors should prepare full papers with a maximum length of 4 pages (double-column, IEEE style, PDF) for review. Proceedings will be published by IEEE Computer Science Society in electronic format. They will be permanently available on the IEEExplore and IEEE CS Digital Library online repositories, and indexed in IET INSPEC, EI Compendex (Elsevier), Thomson ISI, and others. Participants will receive a CDROM. The workshop website has all the details:

http://www.mlnl.cs.ucl.ac.uk/prni2012/

** Important Dates
Paper submission deadline: 1st of April, 2012
Acceptance notification: 7th of May, 2012
Workshop: July 2-4, 2012

Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Stanford University Functional Imaging in Neuropsychiatric Disorders (FIND) Lab

Stanford FIND Lab (http://findlab.stanford.edu), under the direction of Michael Greicius, is seeking to hire a postdoctoral fellow for a minimum two-year position. The fellowship will focus on (1) developing a deeper understanding of the genetic basis of functional brain networks in humans and (2) developing brain network imaging measures for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders. The fellow will work closely with Dr. Greicius in developing novel approaches to the analysis of functional brain networks through the study of several datasets including the Allen Institute Human Brain Atlas (http://human.brain-map.org), the ADNI dataset (http://adni.loni.ucla.edu), and several FIND Lab datasets. The ideal candidate will have a strong methods background in imaging genetics or related fields (neurogenetics, imaging, computational neuroscience) coupled with excellent writing skills. Extensive programming experience and/or expertise in classification algorithms would constitute additional advantages and could compensate for less experience in imaging genetics. MDs, PhDs, or MD/PhDs are all encouraged to apply. Interested candidates should email Dr. Greicius directly, greicius@stanford.edu , with a cover letter and CV. Qualified candidates will be asked to have 3 letters of reference forwarded to Dr. Greicius. The position can begin as early as May 1, 2011.

Research Fellow on Imaging Neurodegeneration

SBIC Singapore

Several postdoc positions are available in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Group, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) in Singapore. The research focus of the group is on the development of MRI methods and imaging biomarkers for detection of neurodegeneration and regeneration in rodent models. One project is to study the structural and functional connectivity in rat/mouse models of axonal degeneration using techniques such as DTI, magnetization transfer, resting-state fMRI, etc. The other project is to develop functional imaging, including BOLD/CBV fMRI, perfusion, manganese enhanced MRI, CEST and PET, to understand how metabolic disorders such as diabetes exacerbate neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. We have very active interdisciplinary research teams consisting of people from engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, and neuroscience backgrounds. We also have extensive collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies to develop new methods for evaluating drug effects in the brain.

The successful candidate will have chance to work at the Clinical Imaging Research Center to translate the methods into clinical applications. The center currently hosts a Siemens 3T TIM Trio system and is expanding to include more imaging modalities and higher field MRI.

Institute and Resources:

SBIC is a national research institute dedicating on advancing pre-clinical imaging and its translation to clinical applications. SBIC is composed of four major labs studying from animal models, imaging probe design, imaging techniques, to data processing. For further information about SBIC, please visit our website: http://www.sbic.a-star.edu.sg/.

The lab currently hosts a Varian 9.4T MRI, a Bruker 7T ClinScan MRI, a Bruker 400MHz NMR, a NanoSPECT/CT, a Siemens microPET/CT, and a hyperpolarizer (Hypersense). Another 9.4T MRI and a 600MHz NMR microimager will be installed in 2012. Other facilities include a chemistry lab for imaging probe development, a molecular biology lab for developing transgenic animal models, and the SBIC-Nikon imaging center, which hosts all the advanced live cell optical imaging systems by Nikon. We also have access to animal behavior and radiochemistry facilities.

Qualifications:

We welcome highly-motivated people who want to explore new ideas and multidisciplinary researches to apply. Preferred background includes, but not limited to, neuroscience, physics, and engineering. Prior experience with in vivo MRI/NMR, programming language (C or Matlab), image processing and rodent imaging is preferred.

Contact Info:

Interested candidates should submit his/her CV to the following address: recruit@sbic.a-star.edu.sg.

Research Fellow on Functional Neuroimaging

Postdoc positions are available in the Clinical Imaging Research Centre (CIRC) in Singapore. CIRC is a national research institute jointly funded by the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC, A*STAR) and the National University of Singapore dedicated on advancing imaging techniques for clinical applications.

The research focus is on the development of quantitative arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI and fMRI methods to evaluate the disease progress and drug effects. One project is to detect functional connectivity and its correlation with structural connectivity and perfusion in brain development, stroke and dementia. Another project is to study the pharmacological activation and modulation of the brain function. The results will be correlated or validated by other imaging modality like PET. We have active collaboration with clinician in the National University Hospital, KK Children and Women Hospital and pharmaceutical companies. The postdoc will also have close interaction with scientists working in pre-clinical imaging at the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium to translate knowledge/methods between bench and bedside.

Facility and Equipment:

The Clinical Imaging Research Centre currently hosts a Siemens 3T TIM Trio system and is expanding to incorporate a cyclotron, radiochemistry, PET/CT, MRI-PET, and another high field MRI in 2011 with the opening of the new CIRC building.

Qualifications:

We welcome highly-motivated people who want to explore new ideas and multidisciplinary researches to apply. Preferred Ph.D. background includes, but not limited to, physics, computer science, neuroscience and engineering. Prior experience with programming language (C or Matlab) and/or MRI are required. Experience with sequence programming (especially IDEA) is preferable.

The position will start with a 3-year contract and can be renewed depending on performance. The salary is competitive based on experience.

Contact Info:

Interested candidates should submit his/her CV to the following address: CIRC-Recruit@bmsi.a-star.edu.sg.

Brain Connectivity Workshop - Montreal 2011 21 – 23 June 2011 http://bcw2011.org/ The Brain Connectivity Workshop series aims to bring together experts in computational neuroscience, neuroscience methodology and experimental neuroscience with a special interest in understanding the tripartite relationship between anatomical connectivity, brain dynamics and cognitive function. The first BCW was organized by Rolf Kotter and Karl Friston in April 2002 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since then, the workshop is a yearly recurrent event organized by a different institution around the globe. The 2-day workshop is preceded by a 1-day Brain Connectivity Course, in which brain connectivity experts will introduce the concepts underlying the current state-of-the-art methodologies and experimental designs. This year, the first day course will introduce dynamical systems, graph theory and network analysis, diffusion imaging, genetics and connectivity, cortical oscillations and connectivity of the developing brain. For a detailed program and registration, please see http://bcw2011.org/

EDUCATION SESSION

Viktor Jirsa (dynamical systems) : "Nonlinear Dynamics in Neuroscience"
Ed Bullmore (graph theory and network analysis)
Pierre Bellec (Data driven network organization)
Patrick Haggman (diffusion imaging)
Jacques Michaud (genetics and connectivity)
Petra Ritter (cortical oscillations)
Jay Giedd (connectivity of the developing brain)

PROGRAM

Day 1

Rolf Kotter Lecture: Karl Friston - A Tribute to Rolf Kotter
Allard Roebroeck (analysis of connectivity)
Jin Hyung Lee (imaging animal models & connectivity)
Markus Kaiser (imaging animal models, connectivity and epilepsy)

Di Cristo, Graziella (interneurons and development)
Thomason, M (genetic determine of functional connectivity in development)
Taga, G (NIRS imaging of connectivity in development)
Fair, Damien (graph theory metrics and development)

Day 2

Evans, A (life span changes in structural connectivity/morphology)
Valdez-Sosa, Pedro (connectivity in development)
Tononi, G (principles of information integration and network formation)
Bernard, Christophe (local network dynamics in epilepsy) : "Seizures: is the underlying mechanism as simple as a noise-driven emergent property of immature neuronal networks?"
Carmant, Lionel (connectivity in the infant epileptic brain)
Breakspear, M (dynamical systems approach to understanding epilepsy propagation)

Neuroimaging Data Processing Workshop

23-24 March 2011

Edinburgh, UK

http://nipype.blogspot.com 

Day 1 Nipype (23/03/11) - Neuroimaging

1. 9-9.45: Introduction to nipype (Satra Ghosh)

• Nipype: Opensource platform for unified and replicable interaction with existing neuroimaging tools

2. 10-10.45: fMRI use case (Cyril Pernet)
3. 11-11.45: DTI use case (Mark Bastin and Colin Buchanan)
4. 12-11.45: Extending nipype (Chris Gorgolewski)

Afternoon (2-5pm):

1. Hands on session

Day 2 INCF (24/03/11) - Neuroinformatics

1. 9-9.30: (JB Poline)
2. 9.30-10.15: (Yannick Schwartz) pyxnat: XNAT in Python
3. 10.30-10.50: (Vincent Frouin) Computation of map association scores in imaging genetics with nipype/pyxnat
4. 11.00-11.45: (Stephan Gerhard) Connectome Viewer and the Connectome File Format

Afternoon (1-5pm)

1. 1-2: Connectome viewer demo
2. 2-5: Hands on and Interactive Q&A session