PI: James Becker
Institution: University of Pittsburgh

Overview:

LONIR provides on-going data repository and MRI quality assessment services for Dr Becker’s studies of cardiovascular health and the brain, including longitudinal brain MRI data from hundreds of elderly people assessed for plasma markers of brain aging. In addition, TR&D2 has been working with Dr Becker for 13 years – since initial work published in PNAS on HIV – to understand effects of the virus on the brain and how they may interact with normal aging processes. In our current service efforts, we assist Dr Becker in processing MRI and DTI, and we specifically send him more technically advanced dMRI metrics of brain connectivity and microstructure. Dr. Becker is interested in assessing how much these new metrics relate to cognitive decline in aging. The LONIR repository provides tracking systems allowing Dr Becker to monitor upload and download activity and also a user access system with which he can grant access to others who assist with his study or wish to pool its data with data from other studies.