Difference between revisions of "Relative Roles Core1a Core 1b Core2"

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__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
  
==This is a draft!!!==
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==Reflects the 2009 RFA==
  
 
=Introduction=
 
=Introduction=
  
In 2007, NA-MIC DBP funding moved from the first generation of [[DBP:Main|DBPs]] to a [[DBP2|second generation]]. This change required a call for new DBPs and a formalization of the role of Core 3 partners, and provided opportunity to rethink the roles and functions of the Algorithm, Engineering, and DBP cores.  
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Based on the experiences of the first NA-MIC funding cycle, the role of the Driving Biological Projects (DPBs) in NA-MIC includes the following prerequisites:
 +
* Willingness to adopt the NA-MIC Kit
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* Willingness to use DBP funds to hire at least one computer science person into the DBP to enable translational efforts.
  
The relationships and responsibilities between the different partners and different Cores in NAMIC are influenced by several factors including: the original structure of the RFA and project proposal, the technical goals of providing a national infrastructure for medical image analysis, the scientific goals of the DBPs, and several years of experience within the current project.
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An important mechanism for wide dissemination of the NA-MIC software infrastructure is the NA-MIC Kit.  The conditions for inclusion of software in the Kit are described in the Introduction to the [[NA-MIC-Kit|NA-MIC]] Kit as follows:
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* It is our intention to include in the NA-MIC Kit only software that is '''supported''' and comes with a '''BSD style license'''.
  
The [http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-04-003.html RFA] says the following (excerpts):
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Based on this background and on conclusions drawn from our experience during the first NA-MIC funding cycle, the following guidelines are beginning to emerge regarding the role of the 3 main cores of NA-MIC for the renewal period.
*Core functions: 
 
# conducting core research in relevant science, such as algorithm creation and optimization
 
# developing and deploying tools designed to solve particular biomedical problems
 
# establishing Driving Biological Projects (DBP) to allow experimental biomedical and behavioral researchers to interact with and drive computational research in the NIH NCBC
 
 
 
 
 
Based on the experiences of the last 3 years, the [[Dbp2_selection#Prerequisites|RFA]] for the second generation of DBP's in NA-MIC defined the DBP role in NA-MIC to include the following:
 
* Willingness to adopt the NA-MIC kit
 
* Willingness to use DBP funds to hire at least one computer science person into the DBP to help translational efforts
 
 
 
An important mechanism for wide dissemination of the NA-MIC software infrastructure is the NA-MIC Kit.  The Introduction for the [[NA-MIC-Kit|NA-MIC]] kit describes the software in the NA-MIC kit as follows:
 
* It is our intention to include in the NA-MIC kit only software that is '''supported''' and comes with a '''BSD style license'''.
 
 
 
Based on this background and on conclusions drawn from the experience from the first three years of operation the following guidelines are emerging for the role of the each of the 3 main cores of NA-MIC.
 
  
 
=Overall objective=
 
=Overall objective=
  
The objective of NA-MIC is to establish, at a national level, an open-source software and computing infrastructure to facilitate medical research that relies on image analysis. The infrastructure will support experimental biomedical and behavior research utilizing medical image computing (applications of medical image computing) as well as support fundamental research in medical image computing itself (algorithms, data structures, computing platforms). This infrastructure includes a set of open source software tools for medical image computing along with the necessary supporting software development environment (source code repositories, bug trackers, dashboards, build environment, mailing lists, web site, wiki). The infrastructure is designed to support a range of biomedical and behavior research applications.
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The objective of NA-MIC is to establish, at the national level, an open-source software and computing infrastructure to facilitate medical research that relies on image analysis. It is envisioned that the infrastructure will support experimental biomedical and behavioral research with advanced software applications in medical image computing, as well as fundamental research in medical image computing, itself (algorithms, data structures, computing platforms). This infrastructure will include a set of open source software tools for medical image computing along with the necessary supporting software development environment (source code repositories, bug trackers, dashboards, build environment, mailing lists, web site, wiki). The infrastructure will be designed to support a wide range of biomedical and behavioral research applications.
 
 
The NA-MIC Kit is the foundation of this infrastructure, providing an end-user application (Slicer3), and batch processing tools for large scale experiments (BatchMake, Grid) to support biomedical and behavior researchers. The NA-MIC Kit also includes ITK, which is an extensive set of libraries for image analysis, visualization tools in VTK, and a simple plugin architecture for Slicer3 to support research in medical image computing.
 
  
All the NA-MIC participants will use NA-MIC funding exclusively for this overall goal.
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The NA-MIC Kit is the foundation of this infrastructure and provides an end-user application (3D Slicer), batch-processing tools for large-scale experiments (iPython), and a PACS-like infrastructure (XNAT and DICOM) to support biomedical and behavioral researchers. The NA-MIC Kit also includes The Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK), which is an extensive set of libraries for image analysis developed with funding from the National Library of Medicine for its Visible Human Project, visualization tools in VTK, Qt for user interfaces, and a layered plug-in architecture for 3D Slicer to support research in medical image computing. All of the components of the NA-MIC Kit are distributed under a BSD style license free of restrictions.
  
=Core 1: Algorithms=
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'''All of the NA-MIC participants will use NA-MIC funding exclusively for work in the NA-MIC Kit environment.'''
NA-MIC funding in the algorithm core is used for work research and development of algorithms in the NA-MIC Kit. Algorithms will be driven by the specific needs of the DBPs, but with a preference for general solutions as opposed to algorithms that are only useful in a particular subdomain.  The plan for Core 1 development is that Core 1 sites should implement algorithms in ITK and integrate into Slicer via the support for plugin modules.  Core 1 participants are expected to request specific APIs, data structures and facilities from Core 2 to support this work.
 
  
=Core 2: Engineering=
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=Core 1: The Computer Science Cores=
Participants in this core are concentrating on developing the NA-MIC kit as an infrastructure.  The infrastructure will provide the libraries and APIs needed by Core 1 to implement their algorithms and the user interfaces needed by Core 3 to make use of the tools.  Core 2 participants will consult regularly with Core 1 sites, the Core 1 PI, and the NA-MIC PI in order to establish needs for software infrastructure.  Major infrastructure developments will be documented on the Wiki and publicized, by email, to the site PIs.
 
  
=Core 3: DBP's=
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=Core 1A: Algorithms=
Core 3 researchers serve as representatives of their fields and should make algorithm and tool requests that serve not just their current research needs, but will also benefit the larger community of users.  The DBPs are responsible for developing and modifying NA-MIC-Kit applications to meet their specific needs.  Thus second generation DBP's will use the NA-MIC funding to hire an engineer or software developer, qualified to work with the Slicer 3 application, who will help to use the tools developed by the algorithm core to perform biomedical research.
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NA-MIC funding in the Algorithms Core is used to support work related to the research and development of algorithms in the NA-MIC Kit. Algorithms will be driven by the specific needs of the DBPs, but with a preference for generalizable solutions as opposed to algorithms that are only useful in a particular subdomainUnder the development plan for the Algorithms Core (Core 1A), all sites should implement algorithms in ITK and integrate into Slicer3 via the plug-in modules. Core 1A participants are expected to request specific application program interfaces (APIs), data structures, and facilities from Engineering (Core 1B) to support this work.
  
=Case studies=
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=Core 1B: Engineering=
* Georgia tech: DLPFC parcelation tool
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Participants in the Engineering Core are concentrating on developing the NA-MIC Kit as a platform. The platform will provide the libraries and APIs needed by Core 1A to implement their algorithms and the user interfaces needed by Core 2 (DBPs) to make use of these tools.  Core 1B participants will consult regularly with the Core 1A sites, the Core 1A PI, and the NA-MIC PI in order to establish needs for software infrastructure. Major infrastructure developments will be documented on the Wiki and publicized, by email, to the site PIs.
** Algorithm and the implementation done by students at Georgia Tech (Core 1)
 
** Development of the Bayesian classification component of the tool provided by Kitware (Core 2)
 
** Support for the development of the Slicer2 RuleBasedSegmentation module provided by Isomics (Core 2)
 
** Clinical guidance given by collaborators from UCI and Harvard (Core 3)
 
*MIT: EM segmenter
 
**Algorithm research partially predates NA-MIC
 
**Part of the tool creation was outsourced to kitware, using MIT NA-MIC funding
 
**Algorithm has multiple applications (MR Neuro, CT Torso, Mircoscopy...) all available in a clean and documented user interface.
 
**More details:
 
The students who develop the algorithms use different languages to
 
write the code, but recently they increasingly use itk and vtk. They
 
work with Core 3 groups to apply the algorithms; the initial set of
 
publications is created between Core 1 and Core 3 groups. These papers
 
demonstrate the usefulness of the approach on the applications of
 
interest.
 
  
In the integration phase, MIT groups subcontracts to Kitware (or a different subcontractor with the necessary qualifications) to
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=Core 2: Driving Biological Projects (DBPs)=
integrate the algorithms into NAMIC-kit. Depending on the application,
 
this might mean incorporating the code into itk libraries, and/or
 
providing a command-line interface to Slicer, or building a custom
 
module in Slicer. The proposal is written by a Kitware engineer in
 
collaboration with the student/researcher who created the original
 
code. The proposal is reviewed by the Core 3 collaborator who has used
 
the technology before or has a clear need for it in the future.  It is
 
then approved by site PI (typically after revisions to incorporate
 
Core 3 requirements). This process ensures that the necessary and the
 
useful features are implemented.
 
  
The testing of the implementation is done by Kitware in a very close
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Core 2 researchers serve as representatives of their fields and should make algorithm and tool requests that serve not only to fulfill their current research needs, but also to benefit the larger community of users.  The DBPs are responsible for developing and modifying NA-MIC-Kit applications to meet their specific needs. Thus, third generation DBPs will use the NA-MIC funding to hire an engineer or software developer who is qualified to work with the Slicer 3 application and will help the DBP to use the tools developed by the Algorithm Core to perform biomedical research. It is expected that Core 2 will produce working end-to-end solutions for a specific problem, publish scientific papers that illustrate the use of such solutions, develop tutorials and sample datasets for each solution, and finally, organize workshops (or similar) to disseminate these solutions to their community.
collaboration with Core 3 (Core 3 runs tests to compare to their
 
previous results, etc.). The integration stage of a large project (for
 
example, EM segmenter) takes about 1 year: ~2months to develop a
 
detailed proposal, ~6months to implement, ~4 months to test and
 
refine.
 

Latest revision as of 11:36, 8 December 2009

Home < Relative Roles Core1a Core 1b Core2


Reflects the 2009 RFA

Introduction

Based on the experiences of the first NA-MIC funding cycle, the role of the Driving Biological Projects (DPBs) in NA-MIC includes the following prerequisites:

  • Willingness to adopt the NA-MIC Kit
  • Willingness to use DBP funds to hire at least one computer science person into the DBP to enable translational efforts.

An important mechanism for wide dissemination of the NA-MIC software infrastructure is the NA-MIC Kit. The conditions for inclusion of software in the Kit are described in the Introduction to the NA-MIC Kit as follows:

  • It is our intention to include in the NA-MIC Kit only software that is supported and comes with a BSD style license.

Based on this background and on conclusions drawn from our experience during the first NA-MIC funding cycle, the following guidelines are beginning to emerge regarding the role of the 3 main cores of NA-MIC for the renewal period.

Overall objective

The objective of NA-MIC is to establish, at the national level, an open-source software and computing infrastructure to facilitate medical research that relies on image analysis. It is envisioned that the infrastructure will support experimental biomedical and behavioral research with advanced software applications in medical image computing, as well as fundamental research in medical image computing, itself (algorithms, data structures, computing platforms). This infrastructure will include a set of open source software tools for medical image computing along with the necessary supporting software development environment (source code repositories, bug trackers, dashboards, build environment, mailing lists, web site, wiki). The infrastructure will be designed to support a wide range of biomedical and behavioral research applications.

The NA-MIC Kit is the foundation of this infrastructure and provides an end-user application (3D Slicer), batch-processing tools for large-scale experiments (iPython), and a PACS-like infrastructure (XNAT and DICOM) to support biomedical and behavioral researchers. The NA-MIC Kit also includes The Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK), which is an extensive set of libraries for image analysis developed with funding from the National Library of Medicine for its Visible Human Project, visualization tools in VTK, Qt for user interfaces, and a layered plug-in architecture for 3D Slicer to support research in medical image computing. All of the components of the NA-MIC Kit are distributed under a BSD style license free of restrictions.

All of the NA-MIC participants will use NA-MIC funding exclusively for work in the NA-MIC Kit environment.

Core 1: The Computer Science Cores

Core 1A: Algorithms

NA-MIC funding in the Algorithms Core is used to support work related to the research and development of algorithms in the NA-MIC Kit. Algorithms will be driven by the specific needs of the DBPs, but with a preference for generalizable solutions as opposed to algorithms that are only useful in a particular subdomain. Under the development plan for the Algorithms Core (Core 1A), all sites should implement algorithms in ITK and integrate into Slicer3 via the plug-in modules. Core 1A participants are expected to request specific application program interfaces (APIs), data structures, and facilities from Engineering (Core 1B) to support this work.

Core 1B: Engineering

Participants in the Engineering Core are concentrating on developing the NA-MIC Kit as a platform. The platform will provide the libraries and APIs needed by Core 1A to implement their algorithms and the user interfaces needed by Core 2 (DBPs) to make use of these tools. Core 1B participants will consult regularly with the Core 1A sites, the Core 1A PI, and the NA-MIC PI in order to establish needs for software infrastructure. Major infrastructure developments will be documented on the Wiki and publicized, by email, to the site PIs.

Core 2: Driving Biological Projects (DBPs)

Core 2 researchers serve as representatives of their fields and should make algorithm and tool requests that serve not only to fulfill their current research needs, but also to benefit the larger community of users. The DBPs are responsible for developing and modifying NA-MIC-Kit applications to meet their specific needs. Thus, third generation DBPs will use the NA-MIC funding to hire an engineer or software developer who is qualified to work with the Slicer 3 application and will help the DBP to use the tools developed by the Algorithm Core to perform biomedical research. It is expected that Core 2 will produce working end-to-end solutions for a specific problem, publish scientific papers that illustrate the use of such solutions, develop tutorials and sample datasets for each solution, and finally, organize workshops (or similar) to disseminate these solutions to their community.