Provision of an integrated data analysis platform for computational neuroscience experiments

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated analysis base to facilitate computational neuroscience experiments, following a user-led approach to provide access to the integrated neuroscience data and to enable the analyses demanded by the biomedical research community. Design/methodology/approach – The design and development of the N4U analysis base and related information services addresses the existing research and practical challenges by offering an integrated medical data analysis environment with the necessary building blocks for neuroscientists to optimally exploit neuroscience workflows, large image data sets and algorithms to conduct analyses. Findings – The provision of an integrated e-science environment of computational neuroimaging can enhance the prospects, speed and utility of the data analysis process for neurodegenerative diseases. Originality/value – The N4U analysis base enables conducting biomedical data analyses by indexing and interlinking the neuroimaging and clinical study data sets stored on the grid infrastructure, algorithms and scientific workflow definitions along with their associated provenance information

Development of a large-scale neuroimages and clinical variables data atlas in the neuGRID4You (N4U) project

© 2015 Elsevier Inc.. Exceptional growth in the availability of large-scale clinical imaging datasets has led to the development of computational infrastructures that offer scientists access to image repositories and associated clinical variables data. The EU FP7 neuGRID and its follow on neuGRID4You (N4U) projects provide a leading e-Infrastructure where neuroscientists can find core services and resources for brain image analysis. The core component of this e-Infrastructure is the N4U Virtual Laboratory, which offers easy access for neuroscientists to a wide range of datasets and algorithms, pipelines, computational resources, services, and associated support services. The foundation of this virtual laboratory is a massive data store plus a set of Information Services collectively called the 'Data Atlas'. This data atlas stores datasets, clinical study data, data dictionaries, algorithm/pipeline definitions, and provides interfaces for parameterised querying so that neuroscientists can perform analyses on required datasets. This paper presents the overall design and development of the Data Atlas, its associated dataset indexing and retrieval services that originated from the development of the N4U Virtual Laboratory in the EU FP7 N4U project in the light of detailed user requirements

Grid-wide neuroimaging data federation in the context of the NeuroLOG project.

International audienceGrid technologies are appealing to deal with the challenges raised by computational neurosciences and support multi-centric brain studies. However, core grids middleware hardly cope with the complex neuroimaging data representation and multi-layer data federation needs. Moreover, legacy neuroscience environments need to be preserved and cannot be simply superseded by grid services. This paper describes the NeuroLOG platform design and implementation, shedding light on its Data Management Layer. It addresses the integration of brain image files, associated relational metadata and neuroscience semantic data in a heterogeneous distributed environment, integrating legacy data managers through a mediation layer