# High Resolution, Comprehensive Atlases of the Human Brain Morphology

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2020 · $755,530

## Abstract

Project Summary
The past decade has brought an explosion in the development of precise acquisition and analytic tools (both
mathematical and statistical) that allow for investigating in-vivo brain imaging data in the context of
interconnected networks, or connectomes. This rapid advancement, fueled by additional funds from Congress
(BRAIN initiative), however, is not mirrored by the development of neuroanatomy atlases and ontology tools
that would make in-vivo connectivity analysis more accurate. For one, the advent of the Human Connectome
Project, generating large high-resolution datasets, is creating a need for development of corresponding, high
definition atlases. This, however, requires time, and interdisciplinary anatomical knowledge. In addition, the
atlases that exist are rarely portable, flexible, or easily transferable between image analysis tools, and do not
follow a common standard of neuroanatomy.
The overall aim of this project is to generate and disseminate state-of-the-art, high-resolution full brain MR
atlases, as the extension of the previous version of the Harvard-Oxford Atlas (HOA), a popular and widely
available atlas through FMRIB Software Library (FSL) atlas, developed in our labs over a decade ago. As part
of this project, we will: 1. Consolidate expert neuroanatomical knowledge into a single ontology. This will
include the development of a graphical representation of regions' structural relationships, both hierarchical
(lobes, lobules, gyri and subcortical structures) and network-based; 2. Manually parcellate (using developed
ontologies) 200 MR datasets provided as part of the publicly available Human Connectome Project dataset;
and 3. Refine a software platform for storing, editing and disseminating the atlases that will include version
control and the ability for the neuroanatomical community to contribute new atlases or modifications to this 2nd
Generation HOA atlas.
Upon the successful completion of this project, we will have provided the neuroscientific community with an
unprecedented data set of 200 high definition MR data parcellated into 392 gray and white matter PUs using
structural MRI and 189 white matter fascicles using diffusion MRI. All structures will be described in a
comprehensive taxonomy based on decades of neuroanatomical expertise. Importantly, the data set will be
freely available to the community and distributed in an atlas-tailored revision control system, that will track
changes in atlas image data and metadata and will integrate with tools for atlas release and distribution.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9812224
- **Project number:** 5R01MH112748-03
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Sylvain Bouix
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $755,530
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2022-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9812224

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9812224, High Resolution, Comprehensive Atlases of the Human Brain Morphology (5R01MH112748-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9812224. Licensed CC0.

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