Nouchine Hadjikhani
Streamlining Neuroimaging
Prior to using the Mac for viewing MRI scans, Hadjikhani viewed brain scans on Linux workstations that were developed by HMS to work specifically with the school’s MRI scanners. Although the systems were great at analyzing data, Hadjikhani was challenged by the command-line interface.
Now she views all her MRI scans with NeuroLens on a dual-processor Power Mac G5 before delving into extensive data analysis on her Linux systems. The program can deliver brain images orders of magnitude faster than her Linux system and allows her to pinpoint problems with her scans almost instantly. “The first time I saw NeuroLens on the Mac I was so shocked,” she says. “Normally it would take several days before I could look at the results. Now I come back from the scanner with a CD loaded with files and put it in the Power Mac computer and click on NeuroLens and in less than 10 minutes I have the results.”
A Versatile and Easy-to-Use Application
NeuroLens is a powerful instrument in Hadjikhani’s toolkit. It makes quantative physiological neuroimaging, a procedure that’s as complicated as it sounds, nearly transparent. The program was written by Dr. Rick Hoge, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and faculty member of the Harvard Medical School Department of Radiology. Hoge studies cerebrovascular physiology with MRI and knows firsthand what researchers need from an imaging program. The processing operations in NeuroLens are implemented as easy-to use plugins. The program is loaded with a bundle of standard plug-ins for data analysis, but researchers can write their own plug-ins using a built-in Xcode template (Xcode is the Integrated Developer Environment included with the Mac OS X operating system). And if scientists want to delve into the backbone of the program, the UNIX APIs are available.
“That’s the thing that I like about NeuroLens,” says Hadjikhani. “It’s transparent in what it’s doing and you have control of different things that you can visualize. It’s very simple to use, but it still lets you play around and fine-tune things.”
The application can also handle multiple MRI file formats, including DICOM, MINC, Analyze and AFNI. That means researchers like Hadjikhani can use NeuroLens much as a graphic designer uses Adobe Photoshop, converting one file format to another for use in other imaging programs like FS-FAST and Freesurfer. NeuroLens images can be easily dragged into Microsoft Word files or email for presentations.
NeuroLens can also track brain activity over time and display the resulting information in a variety of graphs for deep analysis.
“It’s so much more convenient now that everything is on one system. There are lots of little things that make life much easier.”
Hoge is working with scientists and researchers like Hadjikhani to refine the application and add new features that will make MRI imaging even faster. “It’s a nice collaboration because he understands what the typical user needs,” says Hadjikhani.
One Platform for Both Productivity and Research Tools
Hadjikhani, a longtime Mac user, was thrilled when she learned that she could use her Mac for more than just word processing and Internet research. With the rock-solid, high-performance Power Mac G5 she can tackle MRI data as well. “It’s so much more convenient now that everything is on one system,” says Hadjikhani. “There are lots of little things that make life much easier.” Dual Apple Cinema Displays, for instance, provide the expanded desktop environment that allows the doctor to run several programs at one time. She can easily go back and forth between manipulating MRI images, checking email and composing a research paper.
As tools for neuroimaging become more advanced and user friendly, researchers like Hadjikhani can be less reliant on having to know UNIX to be effective in their fields. “It is not easy,” she says, referring to UNIX. “I’m an M.D., not an engineer. Using UNIX at the command line is time consuming and you have to remember a number of things. It’s nice when you can skip it.” By using powerful and accessible GUI programs like NeuroLens, she can devote more time to research without the technology getting in the way. “We can learn about our results so much faster,” says Hadjikhani.
