The Digital Brain Bank, an open access platform for post-mortem datasets

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Benjamin C Tendler, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Taylor Hanayik, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Olaf Ansorge, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Sarah Bangerter-Christensen, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Gregory Berns, Emory University; Mads F Bertelsen, Centre for Zoo and Wild Animal Health; Katherine L Bryant, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Sean Foxley, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Martijn P van den Heuvel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Amy FD Howard, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Istvan N Huszar, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Alexandre A Khrapitchev, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Anna Leonte, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Paul R Manger, University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences; Ricarda AL Menke, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Jeroen Mollink, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Duncan Mortimer, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Menuka Pallebage-Gamarallage, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Lea Roumazeilles, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Jerome Sallet, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Lianne H Scholtens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Connor Scott, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Adele Smart, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Martin R Turner, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Chaoyue Wang, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Saad Jbabdi, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Rogier B Mars, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division; Karla L Miller, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-03-01
• Publisher: Emory University Libraries
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022, Tendler et al
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73153
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: eLife
• Volume: 11
• Grant/Funding Information: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO 452-13-015 to Rogier B Mars.; Labex CORTEX (Université de Lyon) ANR-11-LABX-0042 to Jerome Sallet.; Wellcome Trust 221933/Z/20/Z to Saad Jbabdi.; Medical Research Council MR/K01014X/1 to Ricarda AL Menke.; NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre to Connor Scott.; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO ALW-179 to Martijn P van den Heuvel; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO VIDI-452-16-015 to Martijn P van den Heuvel.; Alfred Benzon's Foundation to Mads F Bertelsen.; China Scholarship Council to Chaoyue Wang.; This paper was supported by the following grants:; Wellcome Trust 202788/Z/16/Z to Benjamin C Tendler, Ricarda AL Menke, Jeroen Mollink, Adele Smart, Karla L Miller.; IDEXLYON IMPULSION 2020 IDEX/IMP/2020/14 to Jerome Sallet.; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/N019814/1 to Katherine L Bryant, Rogier B Mars.; Medical Research Council MR/K02213X/1 to Sean Foxley, Menuka Pallebage-Gamarallage; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/M011224/1 to Lea Roumazeilles.; Cancer Research UK C5255/A15935 to Alexandre A Khrapitchev.; Wellcome Trust to Taylor Hanayik, Duncan Mortimer.; National Research Foundation of South Africa to Paul R Manger.; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/L016052/1 to Amy FD Howard, Istvan N Huszar.; Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's UK and NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre to Olaf Ansorge.; European Research Council ERC-COG 101001062 to Martijn P van den Heuvel.; Medical Research Council MR/L009013/1 to Istvan N Huszar, Amy FD Howard, Saad Jbabdi.; Wellcome Trust 215573/Z/19/Z to Saad Jbabdi.; Motor Neurone Disease Association to Martin R Turner.
• Keywords: Neuroimaging; neuroscience; human neuroanatomy; data resource; Animals; Access to Information; Brain; MRI; neuropathology; human; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Microscopy; Autopsy; Humans; post-mortem; comparative neuroanatomy
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Health Sciences, Radiology

Abstract

Post-mortem MRI provides the opportunity to acquire high-resolution datasets to investigate neuroanatomy, and validate the origins of image contrast through microscopy comparisons. We introduce the Digital Brain Bank (open.win.ox.ac.uk/DigitalBrainBank), a data release platform providing open access to curated, multimodal post-mortem neuroimaging datasets. Datasets span three themes-Digital Neuroanatomist: datasets for detailed neuroanatomical investigations; Digital Brain Zoo: datasets for comparative neuroanatomy; Digital Pathologist: datasets for neuropathology investigations. The first Digital Brain Bank release includes twenty one distinctive whole-brain diffusion MRI datasets for structural connectivity investigations, alongside microscopy and complementary MRI modalities. This includes one of the highest-resolution whole-brain human diffusion MRI datasets ever acquired, whole-brain diffusion MRI in fourteen non-human primate species, and one of the largest post-mortem whole-brain cohort imaging studies in neurodegeneration. The Digital Brain Bank is the culmination of our lab’s investment into post-mortem MRI methodology and MRI-microscopy analysis techniques. This manuscript provides a detailed overview of our work with post-mortem imaging to date, including the development of diffusion MRI methods to image large post-mortem samples, including whole, human brains. Taken together, the Digital Brain Bank provides cross-scale, cross-species datasets facilitating the incorporation of post-mortem data into neuroimaging studies.