NIH grants Penn Radiology $8.5M for 2 international neuroimaging associations
A research group looking to discover brain changes associated with aging and psychosis at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania received two grants from the National Institutes on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health and general office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) equaling $8.5 million.
The funding will support two large multi-site international neuroimaging consortia—one on brain aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and another on psychosis, as well as a broader computing infrastructure for imaging analytics and machine learning at Penn Medicine.
The researchers will aim to utilize machine learning methods and large databases of imaging and clinical data to discover brain changes associated with aging and psychosis. They will also develop a “Brain Chart” that will allow researchers and clinicians to compare a patient’s brain MRI with population-derived data, using pattern analysis and machine learning methods.
“The scientific goal is to understand the diversity of brain aging trajectories, and relate it to observed types of cognitive decline, as well as to presence of pathologies such as amyloid and cerebrovascular lesions,” said Christos Davatzikos, a professor of radiology at Penn. “This is one of few brain imaging studies of this magnitude in the history of the field, bringing together existing data into this meta-analysis, with participating groups from the US, Europe, Australia, China and Latin America.”
The two studies will use MRI data from 23 international studies of approximately 18,000 individuals.
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.