The central theme of the Program Project carried out by the International Neuroimaging Consortium (INC), and based at the University of Minnesota, is modeling and visualization of spatial and temporal patterns of functional activation in the living human brain. The program consists of two neuroinformatics components: Project 2 (Consensus Patterns in Functional Neuroimaging) and Project 3 (Computational Anatomy and Visualization), a brain/behavioral component: Project 1 (Temporal Resolution of fMRI) and two Cores: Core A (Administration) and Core B (Neuroinformatics).

Neuroscience Focus: The INC Program proposes three aspects of neuroscience research, as defined by the Human Brain Project, although all three Projects contain and integrate neuroscience and neuroinformatics components. The greatest proportion of neuroscience content is found in Project 1, proposing to study the relationship of neuronal activity to the hemodynamic response in rats and in human subjects ("cross-species comparisons"). Project 3 utilizes high-resolution structural and functional MRI and novel surface-mapping techniques to further understanding of structure-function relationships in the human cerebellum ("structure-function research"). Finally, Project 2 applies consensus modeling techniques to the interpretation of specific functional neuroimaging data sets ("computational research").

Neuroinformatics Focus: As defined by the Human Brain Project, neuroinformatics research includes "graphic interfaces..., data visualization and manipulation, data integration through the development of integrated analytical tools, synthesis, and tools for electronic collaboration." Research Projects 1-3 all share the aim of tool development, evaluation and Web-based dissemination, an aim that will be realized in conjunction with the Neuroinformatics Core. The comparison and evaluation of brain surface extraction, brain segmentation, non-linear warping and flat-mapping algorithms described in Projects 2 and 3 explicitly target "the development and documentation of standards by which tools are to be tested for reliability and accuracy;" dissemination of test results, test data sets, algorithms and documentation via the Web -- as in the case of our recently completed comparison of algorithms for correcting intensity non-uniformity [technical report, Pubmed reference] -- constitutes an integral part of these proposal. Neuroinformatics research per se is a major focus of Project 2 (concensus modeling as a generalizable strategy for analyzing neuroscience data), and Project 3 (development of conformal flat-mapping techniques and an interactive environment for comparing 2D and 3D visualizations).