Brain-CODE: A Secure Neuroinformatics Platform for Management, Federation, Sharing and Analysis of Multi-Dimensional Neuroscience Data

Abstract

Historically, research databases have existed in isolation with no practical avenue for sharing or pooling medical data into high dimensional datasets that can be efficiently compared across databases. To address this challenge, the Ontario Brain Institute's "Brain-CODE" is a large-scale neuroinformatics platform designed to support the collection, storage, federation, sharing and analysis of different data types across several brain disorders, as a means to understand common underlying causes of brain dysfunction and develop novel approaches to treatment. By providing researchers access to aggregated datasets that they otherwise could not obtain independently, Brain-CODE incentivizes data sharing and collaboration and facilitates analyses both within and across disorders and across a wide array of data types, including clinical, neuroimaging and molecular. The Brain-CODE system architecture provides the technical capabilities to support (1) consolidated data management to securely capture, monitor and curate data, (2) privacy and security best-practices, and (3) interoperable and extensible systems that support harmonization, integration, and query across diverse data modalities and linkages to external data sources. Brain-CODE currently supports collaborative research networks focused on various brain conditions, including neurodevelopmental disorders, cerebral palsy, neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy and mood disorders. These programs are generating large volumes of data that are integrated within Brain-CODE to support scientific inquiry and analytics across multiple brain disorders and modalities. By providing access to very large datasets on patients with different brain disorders and enabling linkages to provincial, national and international databases, Brain-CODE will help to generate new hypotheses about the biological bases of brain disorders, and ultimately promote new discoveries to improve patient care.

Keywords: Brain-CODE; big data; electronic data capture; neuroinformatics; open data.

FIGURE 1

Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) Programs. These programs take a different approach to research that spans many disciplines and brings together a diverse group of stakeholders including researchers, clinicians, industry partners, and patients and their advocates. The programs collect various types of data, including genetic, molecular, imaging, and behavioral, which are stored on Brain-CODE. Figure adapted from Stuss (2014).

FIGURE 2

Data life cycle within Brain-CODE.

FIGURE 3

Data exploration and release dashboard. Open data release of High Resolution MRI of Mouse Models Related to Autism. Available at www.braincode.ca

FIGURE 4

Brain-CODE system architecture.

FIGURE 5

Sample MR QA Dashboard. Longitudinal display of parameter acquisition values obtained from one scanner’s monthly fMRI scans of an fBIRN phantom. Longitudinal results for the TR, TE, Flip angle, Pixel Bandwidth, Matrix size, Voxel size, and Slice Number parameters are displayed for 38 scans obtained between June 2014 and August 2017. Red and green traces indicate parameter values that deviate or fall within normal limits of the expected values, respectively.

FIGURE 6

Data exploration dashboard showing summary of the data in Brain-CODE. Updated summary found at www.braincode.ca