There has been an exponential growth in the utilization of neuroimaging in almost every aspect of basic and clinical neuroscience. Imaging methods are typically the sole means of directly assessing human brain parenchyma in vivo, providing an important link between brain and behavior. For translational neuroscience, imaging provides a critical link to postmortem tissue examination and to animal models of human brain disorders. However, few investigators possess the entire range of skills needed to carry out successful neuroimaging research. The Neuroscience Neuroimaging Center was established in 2003 to provide researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and collaborating institutions with access to state-of-the-art facilities and multidisciplinary expertise in neuroimaging. By consolidating local resources and expertise, uniform access to the latest technical capabilities can be provided to all investigators, thereby promoting early adoption of new methods and new research directions. In addition to managing a neuroscience-dedicated 3 Tesla whole-body MRI system, ancillary hardware, and an extensive computing facility, the NNC also consolidates a broad range of neuroimaging expertise through the participation of scientists and staff from several leading neuroimaging laboratories on campus along with expertise in research administration and regulatory affairs pertaining to neuroimaging. During the next funding period, this successful model for infrastructure support will be extended to animal neuroimaging on a newly installed 9.4 Tesla horizontal bore MRI system, to ultra-high-field human neuroimaging using a 7 Tesla whole-body MRI system that will be installed at Penn in 2008, and to in vivo optical neuroimaging. Support will continue to be provided through four existing modules. An Administrative Core provides oversight for the NNC, administrative support for NNC resources, and regulatory support for NNC users and is guided by a Steering Committee comprised of Core Directors and PIs of qualifying projects. A Data Acquisition Core provides technical support for imaging protocol development and implementation, image acquisition and quality assurance, and for ancillary measures of physiology and behavior. A Morphology and Statistics Core supports structural morphometry, diffusion tensor imaging and tractography, localized and global brain segmentation, image visualization, statistical modeling, and genomic analyses. A Computing Core maintains state-of-the-art data processing facility with distributed computing, data storage and archiving, integration of neuroimaging data analysis environments, and provides system administration support to users.
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