ITR/IM: Novel Indexing and Retrieval of Dynamic Brain Images

Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Brunswick NJ

Investigators

Abstract

EIA-0205178 Paul Kantor Rutgers University Novel Modeling of Dynamic Brain Images for Indexing and Retrieval The proposed research will develop new techniques for representation, organization and retrieval of dynamic brain images. High resolution brain imaging facilities at two sites will conduct targeted experiments to develop image sequences supporting the research. Multiple techniques will be used to provide higher time resolution than the native fMRI format. Images will be archived with web access for the research team, and for other teams elsewhere around the world. The research will develop novel models of episodes of brain activity and effective schemes for indexing and retrieving those episodes. A practical research goal of the project is to support a new kind of "Query by Example" access to archives of space-time brain images, usable by clinicians and researchers for research and diagnosis. The project also contributes to clinical applications of cognitive science, to the advance of scientific knowledge, and to scientific education, at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. The Rutgers-Princeton project is a collaboration among cognitive scientists, computer scientists and engineers, information scientists, applied mathematicians, statisticians, and cognitive neuroscientists, with guidance from an advisory committee of clinicians and radiologists. The algorithms developed will better approximate judgments that trained humans make when scanning an array of stored images for ones "similar to" a given image, that is, "Query by Example". This project will help to make neuro-imaging analysis tools available to the clinical and industrial investigators who are best positioned to adapt new methods to applied domains.