International Neuroimaging Data-Sharing Initiative

The Child Mind Institute is a leading force in open neuroscience — the movement to make scientific data, tools and knowledge accessible to all researchers. Most academic medical centers and research institutes hold their data until papers are published, but we freely share massive amounts of data to speed the pace of discovery. This demonstration of an open science philosophy will encourage institutions to embrace a culture change that produces breakthroughs for the field.

Open science projects developed and supported by the Child Mind Institute include the International Neuroimaging Data-Sharing Initiative (INDI), the Healthy Brain Network and other consortia and open-source tools that can be accessed below.

Researchers and institutions must adopt collaborative approaches to advance the science of the developing brain. The International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative is a venue for investigators to openly share their data through large-scale efforts such as the ADHD-200, the Consortium for Reliability Reproducibility, and the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange.

INDI’s open data sharing model has recently been extended to the nonhuman imaging community through the creation of the PRIMatE Data Exchange (PRIME-DE). The goal of PRIME-DE is to create an open science resource for the neuroimaging community that multiplies the impact of existing primate research, advancing our understanding of human brain function and helping develop new treatments while potentially decreasing the need for further animal research. Visit the PRIME-DE site on INDI or read the data descriptor in Neuron.

INDI has aggregated and shared more than 15,000 MRI images from labs around the world. More than 1,000 publications have used INDI Data. As demonstrated in a recent publication in Nature Communications, INDI’s commitment to sharing increases the scale of scientific studies while minimizing costs and wasted effort.

Access the International Neuroimaging Data-Sharing Initiative here. It contains:

• Links to aggregated datasets
• Information on INDI projects
• Registration and access request

C-PAC is open-source software for MRI analysis that can be used by researchers with limited computer skills, providing automated preprocessing and analysis of resting-state fMRI data. C-PAC builds upon a robust set of existing software packages and makes it easy for both novice users and experts to explore their data using a wide array of analytic tools. C-PAC has been designed to reliably preprocess and analyze data for hundreds of subjects in a single run. An integrated Quality Control interface facilitates rapid examination of pipeline outputs.

The NIH BRAIN Initiative has recently awarded the Child Mind Institute’s Computational Neuroimaging Lab a grant to extend the open software to handle nonhuman imaging data. This data is invaluable, as research involving nonhumans has driven forward many of the biomedical and scientific advances of the past century and continues to be crucial for the development and assessment of new treatments. The expansion of C-PAC will help to maximize the scientific yield of investments in nonhuman imaging research.

Access the Configurable Pipeline for the Analysis of Connectomes here. It contains:

• Software installer
• Developer documentation
• Support forum

The Healthy Brain Network is an ongoing research study focused on creating and sharing a biobank comprised of data from 10,000 New York City area children and adolescents (ages 5-21). The Healthy Brain Network has adopted a community-referred recruitment model, seeking the participation of families who have concerns about psychiatric symptoms in their children. The Healthy Brain Network Biobank houses data about psychiatric, behavioral, cognitive, and lifestyle (e.g., fitness, diet) phenotypes, as well as multimodal brain imaging, electroencephalography, digital voice and video recordings, genetics, and actigraphy. The open access Biobank exists to accelerate transdiagnostic research and advance related areas, such as biophysical modeling, voice and speech analysis, natural viewing fMRI and EEG, and methods optimization.

Access the Healthy Brain Network Biobank here. It contains:

• Information on the protocol
• Sample characteristics
• MRI data downloads
• EEG data downloads
• Phenotypic data downloads
• Data quality check information
• Data usage and privacy information

An open science resource assessing and comparing test-retest reliabilities for full-brain connectivity patterns derived from functional MRI data obtained during different scan conditions. 13 adult participants (aged 21-42) were repeatedly scanned under each of four scan conditions across 12 sessions: 1) rest, 2) naturalistic viewing of a sequence of abstract shapes, 3) naturalistic viewing of highly engaging movies and 4) performance of an active task. For non-rest conditions, three different stimuli were repeated four times across the 12 sessions to allow for consideration of repetition effects.

Access the Healthy Brain Network Serial Scanning Initiative here. It contains:

• Information on the protocol
• MRI data downloads
• Basic phenotypic data downloads

An open science resource focused on dimensional data-gathering. In line with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), we conceptualize mental illness in terms of continuous domains rather than discrete syndromes. We present a novel battery of EEG-based paradigms that focuses on multiple key domains of cognitive function that may be useful for advancing the study of clinical cognitive neuroscience.

Access the Multimodal Resource for Studying Information Processing in the Developing Brain here. It contains:

• Information on the protocol
• EEG data downloads
• Phenotypic data downloads