Program for Comp.Functional Imaging and Visualization

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant): The University of Utah is proposing to develop an NIH National Program of Excellence in Biomedical Computing (NPEBC): "Program of Excellence for Computational Bioimaging and Visualization" that will have a pair of interrelated scientific goals. The first goal is to support interdisciplinary research that relies on the important relationship between computing and bioimaging. The second goal is to educate scientists who are capable of contributing to such interdisciplinary computational biomedical research. To develop the resources, collaborations, and experience required to submit a full program of excellence application, we propose a planning period outlined in this application. We propose to develop three technical core areas that support two biomedical research projects. Topics of the technical cores are image acquisition, image and signal processing, and scientific computing and visualization. These are areas of existing strength and the University of Utah, and we will pursue new topics within this existing framework and also develop the interdisciplinary infrastructure required for enhanced collaboration. The research projects are: multimodal cardiac imaging and subject-specific functional neuro-imaging. These projects address important scientific questions and also share a set of technological challenges that demand better methods for imaging and better tools for utilizing and combining the data that are generated by various imaging modalities. We will also develop an interdisciplinary training program for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The program will consist of a rotation of courses that include: basic physiology, cell biology, computational science, and image/signal processing, and radiology. Many of these courses are already offered to inter-disciplinary audiences, and we also imagine modifying existing courses or adding new ones to accommodate this new program. This sequence of courses will culminate in a project course where students work in interdisciplinary teams on projects that better reflect the true nature of research problems computational imaging. Upon completion, each student will receive the certificate in Computational Bioimaging as well as the degree from their home department. With our existing strengths and diverse, collaborative team, we feel that Utah can create a strong program of excellence that reflects the goals of the BISTI mission.