DBP 2007

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Motivation

• The original RFA specified the following: "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."

The second generation of DBP's (announced on April 11 2006)

• funding will begin on Aug 1 2007
• Harvard
• JHU
• The Mind Institute
• UNC

Document Guidelines

We are asking the new DBP's to write a document that will provide us with specific aims and additional information about their science and their goals for the participation in NA-MIC. Please send the document to Ron by Nov. 12. Ron will share the document with the other NA-MIC particpants.

The following topics should be covered:

• 1) Describe (very briefly) your research goals
  • Clinical/scientific relevance
  • What hypotheses are your considering?
  • (or) What kinds procedures are you trying to improve or enable?
• 2) Describe your data
  • What kind of image data is associated with these goals (modality, resolution, quantitity)?
  • What other kinds of data is involved (non image)?
  • What amount of data has been collected to date and what will be collected in the next 12-24 months?
  • What information would you like to be able to extract from these images that you are currently unable to?
• 3) Describe your image processing needs
  • What kinds of image processing tasks are needed?
    • Consider filtering, segmentation, registration, shape analysis, etc.
    • What are the inputs?
    • What are the outputs?
    • What are the other important factors such as user input, turn-around time, etc.?
• 4) Describe the state of your image processing technology
  • What tools are your currently using (Software Algorithms)?
  • What are the successes and shortcomings of those tools?
• 5) What will you do with the NA-MIC kit
  • What are your plans with 3D Slicer, version 3
  • What procedures will you transition
  • Who will do the work
  • What will be done in detail?
• 6) In what way and in what direction will your research drive NA-MIC
• 7) Summarize what you hope to gain from this project

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, KWWidgets, 3D Slicer).

Selection Process

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