Development and optimization of tools for the study of human brain anatomical connectivity using high angular resolution diffusion MRI

Project Type: FONDECYT Initiation #11121644
Position: Principal Researcher
Award Year: 2012. Ending Year: 2015.

Descripción

This project sought to develop and optimize tools for the study and analysis of brain connectivity, using Difussion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) data.

The studies are based on High Angular Resolution Difussion Imaging (HARDI) images.

These present very high quality, due to the advancement of acquisition technologies, as well as the acquisition itself (long duration, dedicated to research) and the performed post-processing, which seek to provide a solid base for the study of the healthy adult human brain.

The main results of this project contemplate:

The analysis of the reproducibility of short association fascicles of the brain, using data clustering tools and cortical parcellations.
The optimization of an algorithm for the segmentation of brain fibers, achieving times that allow an interactive segmentation (Principal Researcher: Professor Miguel Figueroa T.).
The development of a tool for the optimized visualization and manipulation of brain tracts.

Other interesting results are:

Development of a tool for the optimized visualization of tracts for Android devices (iFiber).
Creation of an atlas of short brain fascicles.
Development of algorithms for the comparison of brain tracts, between subjects and between hemispheres.

Undergraduate Theses related to the project

Student	Thesis	Defense Date
Ignacio Osorio W.	Electronic Civil Engineering Thesis: “Software for the Interactive Visualization and Extraction of Brain Fibers”	December 31st, 2015.
Danilo Bonometti B.	Electronic Civil Engineering Thesis: “Visualization of Brain Fibers”	April 1st, 2015.
Daniel Seguel B.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Automatic Algorithm for the Segmentation of Short Association Fibers of the Human Brain”	March 17th, 2015.
Claudio Román G.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Short Brain Fibers Clustering Calculated from Difussion Magnetic Resonance Imaging Images”	January 16th, 2015.
Miguel Guevara O.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Algorithm for the Automatic Segmentation of Short Brain Fibers of the Fronto-Parietal Region and the Insular Cortex”	January 16th, 2015.
Pablo L. Silva P.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Parcellation of the Brain Cortex Based on the Anatomical Connectivity”	May 29th, 2014.
Eduardo Venegas A.	Electronic Civil Engineering Thesis: “Development of a software for the interactive manipulation of brain fibers”	July 18th, 2014.
Nicole A. Labra A.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Optimization of Algorithm for the Classification of White Matter Fibers based on the Brain Fascicles Atlas”	April 30th, 2013.
Edison Pardo R.	Electronic Civil Engineering Thesis: “Study of the Variability of the Connections of Short Association of the Human Brain”	April 4th, 2013.
Gabriel E. Varela M.	Biomedical Civil Engineering Thesis: “Calculation of Diffusion Tensor Indices from the Westin Algorithm”	April 4th, 2013.

Postgraduate Theses related to the project

Student	Thesis	Defense Date
Claudio Román G.	Master of Engineering Sciences w/m in Electrical Engineering. “Segmentation of brain short brain fibers based on hierarchical Clustering from HARDI database”	November 30th, 2016.
Miguel Guevara O.	Master of Engineering Sciences w/m in Electrical Engineering. “Parcellation of the brain cortex based on fiber atlas calculated from tractography”	January 30th, 2016.
Nicole Labra A.	Master of Engineering Sciences w/m in Electrical Engineering, (co-director) “Quick segmentation of white substance brain fibers”	January 28th, 2015.

Publications

1003, 2019

Professor Pamela Guevara featured in 100 Years 100 Women exhibition

Professor Pamela Guevara was featured in the "100 Years 100 Women" exhibition, organised by the Departamento de la Mujer del Sindicato 3 de Trabajadores (Department of Women of the Trade Union 3 of Workers), of Universidad de Concepción. The exposition features women that have studied, worked, collaborated and/or participated in UdeC activities, with a long history, as well as more recent trajectory but relevant in their performance area. Women of diverse areas were considered, such as painting, music, singing, biology, engineering, medicine, social work, politics, among others. From the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Andrea Rodríguez, UdeC's current Vice Rector of Research and Development, was also featured.

2802, 2019

Professor Pamela Guevara becomes a Member of AC3E Center

As of October 2018, Dr. Pamela Guevara integrates the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Ac3E), as a Research Associate in the Biomedical Systems line. More details in AC3E Publication.

2201, 2019

Prof. Pamela Guevara participates as exhibitor at LACONEU 2019

Professor Pamela Guevara participated as exhibitor of LACONEU 2019, "Latin America Summer School in Computational Neuroscience, which took place in the city of Valparaíso, Chile, from January 7th through the 25th, 2019. The school counted with prominent national and international exhibitors, and with the presence of postgraduate students, from different Latin American countries, and some from Europe. Dr. Guevara presented two courses, on January Tuesday 15th and January Thursday 17th, plus a talk at the "Large-scale Network Dynamics: New Trends" Workshop, which took place on January Friday 18th. On them she described her main papers related to brain tractography analysis, and the study of brain structural connectivity, based on difussion Magnetic Resonance. The recent papers were made with funds from FONDECYT 1161427 Project and the Anillo ACT172121 Project. The school was also attended by the prominent researcher Maxime Descoteaux, from Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canadá, who works in the development of methods for the acquisition and processing of Magnetic Resonance images.

2201, 2019

News on “El Sur” newspaper about study of brain connections

On January 15th, 2018, El Sur newspaper published a report about the studies carried out by the Medical Images Analysis Group UdeC, in conjunction with collaborators from the Neurospin Center for the Study of the Brain, located in Saclay, France. The article describes a study published on Brain magazine, developed at Neurospin by Marc Antoine d'Albis, under the direction of Josselin Houenou, which managed to analyze association short brain fibers in patients on the autism spectrum. The work found reduced connectivity in some superficial regions. The work uses a association short fiber atlas, published in NeuroImage magazine, by the former Masters in Engineering Sciences with mention in Electrical Engineering UdeC student, Miguel Guevara, who is currently doing a PhD at the Neurospin center. Both works were made with funds from the FONDECYT 1161427 Project and the Anillo ACT172121 Project. See the full news at El Sur newspaper.

501, 2019

Prof. Pamela Guevara joins important international IEEE technical committee

Professor Pamela Guevara was accepted as an associate member of the "Bio Imaging and Signal Processing" (BISP) Technical Committee, of the IEEE's Signal Processing Society (SPS), for the period 2019-2021. More details in the following publication.

2012, 2018

FONDECYT project offers Unity tutorial to develop VR applications

On December 19th and 20th, 2018, Biomedical Engineer from UdeC, Ignacio Espinoza, dictated a Unity tutorial, where he taught the basic concepts and main steps to develop simple applications on this platform. The activity was attended by undergraduate students and teachers from different majors of the Faculty of Engineering UdeC. The event counted with the invaluable help of the Informatics Engineer from Udec, Camilo Vega. This initiative emerged after Ignacio Espinoza developed, for his thesis, a "Software for the Exploration of the Brain in 3D via Virtual Reality", in the context of the FONDECYT 1161427 and CONICYT PIA/ Anillo de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología (Ring of Investigation in Science and Technology) ACT172121 Projects. The application was developed using Blender and Unity software, plus Oculus Rift and Leap Motion devices. It allows to explore the brain cortex, subcortical structures and brain fibers, based on data extracted from Difussion Magnetic Resonance.

News

105, 2020

Short White Matter Tracts Myelinization is Associated With Impaired Social Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A NODDI and Relaxometry Study

M.-A. d'Albis, S. Sarrazin, J.-F. Mangin, P. Guevara, M. Guevara, Ch. Laidi, J. Boisgontier, R. Delorme, S. Holiga, C. Bouquet, M. Ly-Le Moal, A. Amestoy, I. [...]

2802, 2020

Superficial white matter: a review on the dMRI analysis methods and applications

M. Guevara, P. Guevara, C. Román, J.-F. Mangin. Superficial white matter: a review on the dMRI analysis methods and applications Neuroimage 212, p116673, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116673

2711, 2019

Brain Connectomics School 2019
Gallery
Brain Connectomics School 2019

News

Brain Connectomics School 2019

From September 23 to 27, 2019, the Summer School on Brain Connectomics, sponsored by MICCAI and the IEEE Signal Processing Society, was held at the University [...]

1311, 2019

Cortical surface parcellation based on intra-subject white matter fiber clustering

López, N; Vázquez, A; Poupon, C; Mangin, J-F; Guevara P. Cortical surface parcellation based on intra-subject white matter fiber clustering. IEEE CHILECON 2019, Valparaíso, Chile, 2019, [...]