The BigBrainWarp toolbox for integration of BigBrain 3D histology with multimodal neuroimaging
- McGill University, Canada
- Concordia University, Canada
- UCL, United Kingdom
- University of Western Ontario, Canada
- Max Planck Institute Leipzig, Germany
- Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, Canada
- Heinrich Heine University, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
Abstract
Neuroimaging stands to benefit from emerging ultrahigh-resolution 3D histological atlases of the human brain; the first of which is 'BigBrain'. Here, we review recent methodological advances for the integration of BigBrain with multi-modal neuroimaging and introduce a toolbox, 'BigBrainWarp', that combines these developments. The aim of BigBrainWarp is to simplify workflows and support the adoption of best practices. This is accomplished with a simple wrapper function that allows users to easily map data between BigBrain and standard MRI spaces. The function automatically pulls specialised transformation procedures, based on ongoing research from a wide collaborative network of researchers. Additionally, the toolbox improves accessibility of histological information through dissemination of ready-to-use cytoarchitectural features. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of BigBrainWarp with three tutorials and discuss the potential of the toolbox to support multi-scale investigations of brain organisation.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the BigBrainWarp repository (https://github.com/caseypaquola/BigBrainWarp).
Article and author information
Author details
Paule-Joanne Toussaint
Funding
Helmholtz Association
- Casey Paquola
- Lindsay B Lewis
- Claude Lepage
- Jordan DeKraker
- Paule-Joanne Toussaint
- Sofie Louise Valk
- D Louis Collins
- Katrin Amunts
- Alan C Evans
- Timo Dickscheid
- Boris C Bernhardt
Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé
- Casey Paquola
- Boris C Bernhardt
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Ali Khan
- Boris C Bernhardt
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Jessica Royer
- Ali Khan
- Boris C Bernhardt
SickKids Foundation
- Boris C Bernhardt
Azrieli Center for Autism Research
- Boris C Bernhardt
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2021, Paquola et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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