The BigBrain

Brain-Imaging Center, MNI, Montreal

November 3rd, 2017

MRI vs Histology

• Typically volume based imaging is done via MRI.

• The detail of an MRI is heavily influenced by the wavelength of light that is measured and the machines used to measure them (large wavelength radio waves VS. high energy X-ray based CT scanners)

• Histological samples can be measured at the visible frequency of light.

• The big brain brings the level of detail of histological samples together with the concept of a volume based image similar to MRI.

Working with large Images

• The Big Brain clocks in at almost 1TB of image data.

• Researchers are involved with many standard visualization procedures when working with brain images such as annotations and viewing surfaces.

• All of these procedures all of a sudden have big data requirement to overcome thanks to datasets like the Big Brain.

Bringing Big Brain to the Web

• Big Brain visualization is moving into the browser. Great work is currently up at:

bigbrain.bitballoon.com

• This is thanks to the great work done by the Human Brain Project.

Bringing Big Brain to the Web

More advanced interactions are in early development at MCIN such as annotations, surface overlaying, and color map importing. All of these are currently supported by Atelier3D.

Soon these features will be incorporated into a web based suite for general purpose image visualization.

Novel Interactions with Big Brain Data

MCIN developers are working on bringing new ways to manipulate visualizations beyond mouse/keyboard interaction.

The Leap Motion Controller is a cost effective tool to explore this field of interaction.

Thank you