Using Clusters in Biomedical Image Analysis:
Computing Strategies for Neuroinformatics Research
Steve Pieper, PhD
Director and Founder of Isomics, Inc.
Co-Principle Investigator, Morphormetry BIRN
Surgical Planning Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Abstract
Modern biomedical imaging techniques generate high resolution 3D models of living human brains that allow measurement of anatomy to sub-millimeter accuracy, delineation of the neural fibers connecting different brain regions, and even maps of brain activation patterns in response to external stimuli, memory, and cognitive processing. Ill describe how significant computational effort can be devoted to generating these integrated models for individual patients as part of the planning and performance of image guided neurosurgery. In addition, these same detailed brain models can be constructed for large populations of individuals in order to investigate the structural, connectivity, and functional impact of diseases like Alzheimers, schizophrenia, and clinical depression. Capturing the sometimes subtle effects of these neurodegenerative conditions requires the statistical power of multi-site clinical trials and therefore demands an informatics infrastructure supporting image calibration, analysis tool interoperability, and a scalable data management and computing environment. I will present case studies in these areas and describe how existing tools have been expanded and adapted to for application within the cluster computing and grid environment.
Biography
Steve Pieper, Ph.D. is a Computer Scientist with a long-time interest in applying Computer Graphics to problems in Medical Imaging, Surgical Planning, and Biomechanical Simulation expressed through entrepreneurship and academic research. Under Dr. Piepers direction, Isomics, Inc. collaborates extensively with the Surgical Planning Laboratory (SPL) at Brigham and Womens Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. At the SPL, Dr. Pieper is the Co-PI on several NIH grants and participates in research funded by NSF and DARPA. Through his participation in the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN), he directs the SPLs efforts in both structural and functional imaging as part of a nationwide effort to build a research informatics infrastructure for multi-site clinical trials. He has also taken on responsibility for the ongoing development and maintenance of the 3D Slicer, the SPL's flagship software system. Dr. Pieper received a bachelors degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and M.S. and Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab. He has served on the faculty of Engineering at Dartmouth College and has taught of Computer Science and Computer Graphics at Berkeley and MIT. He has been a founder of several medical imaging companies where he has held senior executive and technical positions.
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