DBP 2010

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Background

For background on NA-MIC, you can refer to our short NA-MIC overview. We are looking for a short description that addresses the following points:

Motivations and Procedure

The original RFA specified the following:

• In core 3, an investigator will propose 2-4 collaborations with NIH funded biomedical or behavioral researchers to address a biomedical/behavioral question using computational approaches. It is not essential that the biomedical researchers have expertise in computational biology, but they should have a question that will drive the fundamental computational research in cores 1 and 2. The purpose of this core is to ensure that the research carried out in cores 1 and 2 has direct relevance to biomedical or behavioral research. It may be useful for these Driving Biological Projects (DPB's) to have a focus on a particular disease or organ, but that sort of focus might not be appropriate for all NIH NCBCs. It is expected that many of the biomedical researchers in core 3 will not be at the same institution as the parent NIH NCBC. In such cases, convincing plans for collaboration at a distance must be presented in the proposal.

The NA-MIC DBPs for the 2010 round will be solicited by Ron Kikinis in consultation with the core 1 and core 2 PIs. The DBPs will participate in the development and implementation of the competitive renewal. Specifics of this process will be determined after the RFA has been released (sometime in 2009).

Steps

Prerequisites

• Candidates must be PI or co-Investigator on an existing NIH or comparable grant
• Candidates must have joint publications with at least one NA-MIC Core 1 or Core 2 member or have actively participated in NA-MIC project week events.

Requirements

• Willingness to fully adopt the NA-MIC kit
• NA-MIC funds are to be used to hire a software engineer to help in customization of NA-MIC software for the needs of the DBP.
• The DBP will use these accomplishments to become an ambassador of NA-MIC technology into their own scientific community
  • By organizing training events/workshops etc. as a way to disseminate their capabilities
  • By creating tutorials on how to use the NA-MIC technology for their own project

Action Items

By Thankgiving 2008

• Abstract from the qualifying NIH grant (or comparable short description of the driving project), grant #, and name of program officer
• short description of the project
• 1 paragraph on history with the core 1 or core 2 "sponsor"
• 1 paragraph on the benefit to the DBP applicant
• 1 paragraph on the benefit to NA-MIC

January 2009

• Attend the NA-MIC AHM in Salt Lake City in early January of 2009 to meet with the NA-MIC principals

Sample Job description for the software engineer

Image Computing Applications Engineer:

• Summary: The engineer will work closely with local user community to integrate NA-MIC Kit software into local research workflows. The engineer will work with the NA-MIC algorithm and software developers to develop implementation strategies to meet the needs of local users by adapting and/or extending existing code in the NA-MIC Kit. Examples of the engineering work required include writing code to integrate several filters into a pipeline, building user interfaces to algorithms, converting data file formats, and automating repetitive analysis tasks.

• Duties:
  • Define and specify user requirements for new software.
  • Implement solutions in collaboration with other NA-MIC personnel.
  • Support use of new solutions by local users.
  • Disseminate solutions to broader community through adherence to NA-MIC software practices including publicly readable repositories, design material and documentation on public wiki, participation in email lists to support users and developers.

• Qualifications:
  • BS Computer Science or equivalent. Knowledge of medical image processing a plus.

• Other Requirements:
  • Willingness and ability to develop "production" quality code adhering to existing design standards.
  • Knowledge of C++ essential.
  • Cross-platform software development experience (Windows and Linux; Mac a plus).
  • Experience with NA-MIC Kit tools a plus (CMake, VTK, ITK, Qt, 3D Slicer).