The success of our proposed Conte Feasibility Center for Neuroscience Research depends upon an efficient infrastructure for supporting the applications of high dimensional brain mapping (HDBM) and other tools of computational anatomy needed for the three projects. As pointed out in the General Description of the Center, structural and functional data will be embedded within a unified neuroanatomical framework, and it is the overall goal of this Core is to create and then maintain this framework.
The specific aims of this Core are as follows;
Aim 1. To develop a resource for HDBM with easy access for multiple users at the participating institutions;
Aim 2. To produce precise metrics for the analysis of gray and white matter structures in human and non-human primate (Macaque) brains;
Aim 3. To establish an accessible atlas resource containing multiple human and non-human primate neuroanatomies for use in hypothesis generation. The Brain Mapping Core will be established within the Center for Imaging Science (CIS) at Johns Hopkins University. The research performed at the Brain Mapping Core will be computationally intensive and will require extensive computing resources. Fortunately, the CIS has recently installed a new 24-node IBM SP-3 scalable supercomputer. In addition to the SP-3, the Brain Mapping Core will also have a network of 5 SGI workstations and 10 PC/Linux workstations, all of which are linked to a NetApp, which is a network- based RAID disk storage system. All of the graphical results and data analyses generated within the Core will be directly distributed to collaborators at Washington University and Yale University. The highly computational algorithms, such as those required for the mapping of closed volume brain structures (e.g., hippocampus) and open sheets of cortex will be performed on the IBM scalable computer, which has the advantage over previous supercomputers that individual nodes have their own individual IP addresses making it possible to allocate an IP address to each specific project.
