DBP2:MIND

• Neurological Disorders with Substantial Vascular Components
• PI to be determined
• The MIND Institute
• The Driving Biological Problem (DBP) for The MIND Institute (TMI) NA-MIC proposal will be neurological disorders with substantial vascular components. Investigators associated with TMI currently have several R01 and other extramurally funded projects including: systemic lupus erythematosus (R01-NS35708-04), vascular cognitive disorder (NIH/NIDS R01-NS052305-01), bypass surgery for carotid artery occlusion (NIH/NIDS R01-NS048212-02), Alzheimers disease (NIA R01-AG020302-02), mild cognitive impairment, and myotonic dystrophy. Recent epidemiological evidence from heart studies have shown that vascular diseases such as hypertension, high blood cholesterol and glucose levels not only lead to coronary disorders such as heart attacks but also contribute to vascular causes of dementia, and that the vascular disease adversely impacts Alzheimer's disease.

• This research on neurological disorders with vascular components will benefit from access to and expanded knowledge of existing and future NA-MIC tools. Access will permit new and exciting collaborations with NA-MIC core investigators. And it will give us the ability to shape the future direction of NA-MIC tools and contribute to the wider image analysis community. Finally, DBP scientists and analysts will have the opportunity to learn, adopt, and contribute to a standard image analysis software framework.

• Investigators and image analysis practitioners at TMI offer expertise in spectroscopy and MEG analysis methods. The proposed neurovascular DBP opens the NA-MIC kit to MRS and MEG data sources and analyses. Computer scientists at TMI will contribute image analysis tools for time series and spectroscopy analyses, as well as multi-modal Slicer visualization/localization tools for DTI/MEG/sMR/MRSI modalities. We are enthusiastic about and willing to adopt the NA-MIC kit and would use DBP funds to support a full-time software engineer to contribute tools tailored to meet the needs of the proposed neurovascular DBP. Such a commitment would ultimately make the NA-MIC kit stronger and the wider neuroimaging community better enabled for multi-modal analyses involving spectroscopy and MEG.