The Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory performs extensive research in several brain disorders such as schizophrenia, TBI, ADHD, OCD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, Depression, Eating Disorder, Substance Abuse, Autism etc. We use several MRI methods including diffusion MRI, functional MRI, free-water imaging, data harmonization, MRI sequence development, data reconstruction, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Neuroimaging tools

The PNL investigators are at the forefront of developing cutting edge mathematical, statistical, and machine learning tools to better understand the structure and function of the brain in health and disease. In particular, our toolset includes:

1. Fast and ultra high-resolution (700 µm or better) diffusion MRI data acquisition and reconstruction ( Drs. Rathi, Ning)
2. Fast relaxation and diffusion scanning (Drs. Ning, Rathi)
3. Vendor-agnostic MRI pulse sequence development platform and unified reconstruction for harmonized multi-site data acquisition (Dr. Rathi and his team of collaborators)
4. Algorithms for harmonization of multi-site diffusion MRI data (harmonized ABCD and HCP datasets are openly available on the NDA website) (Drs. Rathi, Cetin-Karayumak)
5. Tissue microstructure modeling and analysis (Drs. Ning, Rathi)
   Joint structure-function analysis of brain networks using dMRI and fMRI data (Dr. Ning)
6. Microstructure driven multi-tensor tractography algorithm (Dr. Rathi)
   Free-water imaging and analysis (Dr. Pasternak)
7. Anatomically validated cortical and subcortical gray matter atlas (Drs. Bouix, Makris, Kubicki)
8. Anatomically curated white matter atlas (Drs. O’Donnell, Rathi, Makris)
9. Personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeting algorithm for treatment of major depression (Dr. Ning)
10. Structural and diffusion MRI processing pipeline (Drs. Bouix, Rathi, Pasternak)

Disorders being investigated

The PNL is at the forefront when it comes to investigation of several mental disorders:

• Schizophrenia and early psychosis (Drs. Shenton, Kubicki, Pasternak)
• Mild traumatic brain injury (Drs. Shenton, Koerte)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (Dr. Shenton)
  Aging (Dr. Kubicki)
• Eating Disorders (Dr. Lyall)
• Substance abuse disorder (Dr. Cetin-Karayumak)
• 22q11 deletion syndrome (Drs. Kikinis, Pasternak)
• Major depression (Drs. Ning, Kubicki)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Drs. Makris, Rathi)
• Other Neuropsychiatric disorders (Drs. Shenton, Rathi, Pasternak)