Whole Brain Catalog Phases

From Whole Brain Catalog

Future phases of the Whole Brain Catalog are in the works! The scientific community is invited to contribute their data and create the road map for the Catalog's future development.

this list is still in progress

• Volume Rendering
• Improved 2D image annotation
• Advanced circuit analysis
  • Platform for tracing through serial sections
  • Platform for unifying tracing done at the subcellular level with cell morphologies, and then with larger tracts
• Molecules & proteins
• Spinal cord
• Virtual world integration
• Whole Brain Catalog - Rat
• Whole Brain Catalog - Macaque
• Whole Brain Catalog - Human

[edit] Our Goals

Goal 1 To populate the Whole Brain Catalog, focusing on creating import strategies and pipelines for the most common types of data utilized by neuroscientists, to ensure a rich base set of data for discovery and expansion. A special focus will be the import of very large multispectral 3D images from high-resolution light and electron microscopy and geometrical cellular and molecular models. To house and serve these data, we will modify our existing on-line database, the Cell Centered Database, to support the services required by the WBC. Such modifications will include simplification of the upload process and support for storage of annotations associated with data.

Goal 2 To further develop the Whole Brain Catalog client, an easy to use, open source 3D interface for visualization and analysis of diverse neuroscience data that supports cooperative community development. Work under this aim will provide better support for visualizing, merging and manipulating 2D, 3D and 4D data types and for placing data within the appropriate spatial and semantic frameworks. As part of this aim, we will also expand the current WBC interface based on the mouse brain to include better support for white matter tracts and other parts of the nervous system, e.g., retina and spinal cord.

Goal 3 To integrate WBC with the Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF), an initiative of the NIH Blueprint consortium, that provides data integration and semantic services for query and annotation of neuroscience data. The NIF currently provides query across diverse neuroscience data sources through a single interface. Under this aim, we will develop the necessary infrastructure to allow WBC users to query NIF data sources from the WBC client, including use of the NIF vocabulary services for annotation of WBC data and semantic search.

Goal 4 To develop the WBC as a collaborative model building tool that will allow users to aggregate information required to build multiscale spatially realistic models for simulation, allow their storage and extension through the WBC and create the necessary services and workflows to launch simulations at systems, cellular, and subcellular levels on distributed large scale parallel or laboratory scale computational resources.

Goal 5 To continue to develop the collaborative and community framework of the WBC to provide support for virtual on-line interactions through the WBC and to build up the outreach activities necessary to rapidly increase contributions to and use of the WBC.