Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis

Nick Steele¹, Ashley A Huggins², Rajendra A Morey¹, Ahmed Hussain¹, Courtney Russell¹, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez³, Elena Pozzi⁴, Hadis Jameei⁵, Lianne Schmaal⁴, Ilya M Veer⁶, Lea Waller⁷, Neda Jahanshad⁸, Sophia I Thomopoulos⁸, Lauren E Salminen⁸, Miranda Olff⁹, Jessie L Frijling¹⁰, Dick J Veltman¹¹, Saskia B J Koch¹², Laura Nawijn¹³, Mirjam van Zuiden¹⁴, Li Wang¹⁵, Ye Zhu¹⁵, Gen Li¹⁵, Dan J Stein¹⁶, Jonathan Ipser¹⁶, Yuval Neria¹⁷, Xi Zhu¹⁷, Orren Ravid¹⁸, Sigal Zilcha-Mano¹⁹, Amit Lazarov²⁰, Jennifer S Stevens²¹, Kerry Ressler²², Tanja Jovanovic²³, Sanne J H van Rooij²¹, Negar Fani²¹, Sven C Mueller²⁴, Anna R Hudson²⁴, Judith K Daniels²⁵, Anika Sierk²⁶, Antje Manthey²⁶, Henrik Walter²⁶, Nic J A van der Wee²⁷, Steven J A van der Werff²⁷, Robert R J M Vermeiren²⁸, Christian Schmahl²⁹, Julia I Herzog²⁹, Ivan Rektor³⁰, Pavel Říha³¹, Milissa L Kaufman³², Lauren A M Lebois³³, Justin T Baker³⁴, Isabelle M Rosso³⁵, Elizabeth A Olson³⁵, Anthony King³⁶, Israel Liberzon³⁷, Michael Angstadt³⁶, Nicholas D Davenport³⁸, Seth G Disner³⁸, Scott R Sponheim³⁹, Thomas Straube⁴⁰, David Hofmann⁴⁰, Guangming Lu⁴¹, Rongfeng Qi⁴², Xin Wang⁴³, Austin Kunch⁴³, Hong Xie⁴³, Yann Quidé⁴⁴, Wissam El-Hage⁴⁵, Shmuel Lissek⁴⁶, Hannah Berg⁴⁶, Steven E Bruce⁴⁷, Josh Cisler⁴⁸, Marisa Ross⁴⁹, Ryan J Herringa⁵⁰, Daniel W Grupe⁵¹, Jack B Nitschke⁵², Richard J Davidson⁵³, Christine Larson⁵⁴, Terri A deRoon-Cassini⁵⁵, Carissa W Tomas⁵⁶, Jacklynn M Fitzgerald⁵⁷, Jeremy Elman⁵⁸, Matthew Panizzon⁵⁹, Carol E Franz⁶⁰, Michael J Lyons⁶¹, William S Kremen⁶², Brandee Feola⁶³, Jennifer U Blackford⁶⁴, Bunmi O Olatunji⁶⁵, Geoffrey May⁶⁶, Steven M Nelson⁶⁷, Evan M Gordon⁶⁸, Chadi G Abdallah⁶⁹, Ruth Lanius⁷⁰, Maria Densmore⁷¹, Jean Théberge⁷¹, Richard W J Neufeld⁷¹, Paul M Thompson⁸, Delin Sun⁷²

Affiliations

¹ Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Veteran Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
³ Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
⁴ Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia; Orygen, Parkville, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
⁶ Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences CCM, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging & Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
⁹ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ De Viersprong mental health specialist in personality disorders, family and behavior, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹¹ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC Vrije Universiteit, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹² Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹³ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Laboratory for Traumatic Stress Studies, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ SA MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁸ New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁹ University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
²⁰ Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
²¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
²² Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
²³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
²⁴ Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
²⁵ Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
²⁶ University Medical Centre Charité, Berlin, Germany.
²⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands.
²⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
²⁹ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Germany; German Center for Mental Health, partner site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm.
³⁰ CEITEC-Central European Institute of Technology, Multimodal and Functional Neuroimaging Research Group, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
³¹ First Department of Neurology, St. Anne's University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; CEITEC-Central European Institute of Technology, Multimodal and Functional Neuroimaging Research Group, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
³² Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Womens Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³³ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Texas A&M University, Bryan, TX, USA.
³⁸ Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
³⁹ Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴⁰ Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
⁴¹ Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴² Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
⁴⁴ School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
⁴⁵ Université de Tours, INSERM, Imaging Brain & Neuropsychiatry iBraiN U1253, 37032, Tours, France.
⁴⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴⁷ University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Psychological Sciences, Center for Trauma Recovery, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁴⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁴⁹ Northwestern Neighborhood and Network Initiative, Northwestern University Institute for Policy Research, Evanston, IL, USA.
⁵⁰ School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵¹ Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵² Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵³ Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
⁵⁵ Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA; Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
⁵⁶ Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA; Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
⁵⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; Stein Institute for Research on Aging & Center for Healthy Aging, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁵⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁶⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁶¹ Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶² Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, LA Jolla, CA, USA.
⁶³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA.
⁶⁴ University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute, Omaha, NE, USA.
⁶⁵ Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA.
⁶⁶ Center for Vital Longevity, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Veterans Integrated Service Network-17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans, Waco, TX, USA.
⁶⁷ Veterans Integrated Service Network-17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans, Waco, TX, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Center for Vital Longevity, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, USA.
⁶⁸ Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁶⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁷⁰ Department of Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷¹ Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷² Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Veteran Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: Delin.Sun@duke.edu.

PMID: 41138791
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121554

Free article

Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis

Nick Steele et al. Neuroimage. 2025.

Free article

. 2025 Oct 23:121554.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121554. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Veteran Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
³ Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
⁴ Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia; Orygen, Parkville, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
⁶ Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences CCM, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging & Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
⁹ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ De Viersprong mental health specialist in personality disorders, family and behavior, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹¹ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam UMC Vrije Universiteit, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹² Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹³ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ Amsterdam UMC University of Amsterdam, Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Laboratory for Traumatic Stress Studies, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
¹⁶ SA MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁸ New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁹ University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
²⁰ Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
²¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
²² Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
²³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
²⁴ Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
²⁵ Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
²⁶ University Medical Centre Charité, Berlin, Germany.
²⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands.
²⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
²⁹ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Germany; German Center for Mental Health, partner site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm.
³⁰ CEITEC-Central European Institute of Technology, Multimodal and Functional Neuroimaging Research Group, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
³¹ First Department of Neurology, St. Anne's University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; CEITEC-Central European Institute of Technology, Multimodal and Functional Neuroimaging Research Group, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
³² Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Womens Mental Health, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³³ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Harvard University, Belmont, MA, USA.
³⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Texas A&M University, Bryan, TX, USA.
³⁸ Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
³⁹ Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴⁰ Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
⁴¹ Department of Medical Imaging, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴² Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁴³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
⁴⁴ School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
⁴⁵ Université de Tours, INSERM, Imaging Brain & Neuropsychiatry iBraiN U1253, 37032, Tours, France.
⁴⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁴⁷ University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Psychological Sciences, Center for Trauma Recovery, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁴⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁴⁹ Northwestern Neighborhood and Network Initiative, Northwestern University Institute for Policy Research, Evanston, IL, USA.
⁵⁰ School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵¹ Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵² Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵³ Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
⁵⁵ Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA; Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
⁵⁶ Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA; Comprehensive Injury Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
⁵⁷ Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
⁵⁸ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; Stein Institute for Research on Aging & Center for Healthy Aging, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁵⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁶⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁶¹ Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶² Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, VA San Diego Healthcare System, LA Jolla, CA, USA.
⁶³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA.
⁶⁴ University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute, Omaha, NE, USA.
⁶⁵ Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA.
⁶⁶ Center for Vital Longevity, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Veterans Integrated Service Network-17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans, Waco, TX, USA.
⁶⁷ Veterans Integrated Service Network-17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans, Waco, TX, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Center for Vital Longevity, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX, USA.
⁶⁸ Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁶⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁷⁰ Department of Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷¹ Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷² Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Veteran Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: Delin.Sun@duke.edu.

PMID: 41138791
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121554

Abstract

The increasing scale and complexity of neuroimaging datasets aggregated from multiple study sites present substantial analytic challenges, as existing statistical analysis tools struggle to handle missing voxel-data, suffer from limited computational speed and inefficient memory allocation, and are restricted in the types of statistical designs they are able to model. We introduce Image-Based Meta- & Mega-Analysis (IBMMA), a novel software package implemented in R and Python that provides a unified framework for analyzing diverse neuroimaging features, efficiently handles large-scale datasets through parallel processing, offers flexible statistical modeling options, and properly manages missing voxel-data commonly encountered in multi-site studies. IBMMA successfully analyzed a large-n dataset of several thousand participants and revealed findings in brain regions that some traditional software overlooked due to missing voxel-data resulting in gaps in brain coverage. IBMMA has the potential to accelerate discoveries in neuroscience and enhance the clinical utility of neuroimaging findings.

Keywords: Big Data; Mega-analysis; Meta-analysis; Neuroimaging; PTSD; Resting-state fMRI.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest Christian Schmahl is consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH. Lauren Lebois reports unpaid membership on the Scientific Committee for the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health, K01 MH118467, and spousal IP payments from Vanderbilt University for technology licensed to Acadia Pharmaceuticals unrelated to the present work. Wissam El-Hage reports associations with Air Liquide, CHUGAI, EISAI, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lundbeck, Otsuka, UCB. None related to this work. Richard Davidson is the founder and president of, and serves on the board of directors for, the non-profit organization Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. Chadi Abdallahhas served as a consultant, speaker and/or on advisory boards for FSV7, Lundbeck, Psilocybin Labs, Genentech, and Janssen; served as editor of Chronic Stress for Sage Publications, Inc; and filed a patent for using mTOR inhibitors to augment the effects of antidepressants (filed on August 20, 2018). The remaining co-authors have no declarations.

Update of

Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis.
Steele N, Morey RA, Hussain A, Russell C, Suarez-Jimenez B, Pozzi E, Jameei H, Schmaal L, Veer IM, Waller L, Jahanshad N, Thomopoulos SI, Salminen LE, Olff M, Frijling JL, Veltman DJ, Koch SBJ, Nawijn L, van Zuiden M, Wang L, Zhu Y, Li G, Stein DJ, Ipser J, Neria Y, Zhu X, Ravid O, Zilcha-Mano S, Lazarov A, Huggins AA, Stevens JS, Ressler K, Jovanovic T, van Rooij SJH, Fani N, Mueller SC, Hudson AR, Daniels JK, Sierk A, Manthey A, Walter H, van der Wee NJA, van der Werff SJA, Vermeiren RRJM, Schmahl C, Herzog JI, Rektor I, Říha P, Kaufman ML, Lebois LAM, Baker JT, Rosso IM, Olson EA, King A, Liberzon I, Angstadt M, Davenport ND, Disner SG, Sponheim SR, Straube T, Hofmann D, Lu G, Qi R, Wang X, Kunch A, Xie H, Quidé Y, El-Hage W, Lissek S, Berg H, Bruce SE, Cisler J, Ross M, Herringa RJ, Grupe DW, Nitschke JB, Davidson RJ, Larson C, deRoon-Cassini TA, Tomas CW, Fitzgerald JM, Elman J, Panizzon M, Franz CE, Lyons MJ, Kremen WS, Feola B, Blackford JU, Olatunji BO, May G, Nelson SM, Gordon EM, Abdallah CG, Lanius R, Densmore M, Théberge J, Neufeld RWJ, Thompson PM, Sun D. Steele N, et al. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Jun 17:2025.06.16.657725. doi: 10.1101/2025.06.16.657725. bioRxiv. 2025. Update in: Neuroimage. 2025 Oct 23:121554. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121554. PMID: 40667083 Free PMC article. Updated. Preprint.

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Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis

Affiliations

Image-Based Meta- and Mega-Analysis (IBMMA): A Unified Framework for Large-Scale, Multi-Site, Neuroimaging Data Analysis

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Update of

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