# Deep Learning Algorithms for FreeSurfer

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $649,026

## Abstract

Abstract
FreeSurfer is a tool for the analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that has proven to be
a flexible and powerful technology for quantifying the effects of many conditions, including
numerous neurological disorders, on human brain anatomy, connectivity, vasculature, chemical
composition, physiology and function. In the past 20 years, these open source tools have been
developed to accurately and automatically segment an array of brain structures and have become
the core analysis infrastructure for the Alzheimer’s Disease NeuroImaging Initiative (ADNI). In this
project, we seek the resources to radically increase the speed, accuracy and flexibility of these
tools, taking advantage of exciting new results in Deep Learning. This will enable us to more
accurately quantify neuroanatomical changes that are critical to diagnosing, staging and
assessing the efficacy of potential therapeutic interventions in diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This
includes the generation of documentation, tutorials, unit tests, regression tests and system tests
to harden the tools and make them usable by clinicians and neuroscientists, and finally the
distribution and support of the data, manual labelings and tools to the more than 40,000
researchers that use FreeSurfer through our existing open source mechanism. In addition, we will
analyze the entire Alzheimer’s Disease NeuroImaging Initiative dataset and return it for public
release, including a set of manually labeled data that can be used to optimize Deep Learning tools
for Alzheimer’s Disease over the next decade.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9970009
- **Project number:** 1R01AG064027-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Bruce Fischl
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $649,026
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9970009

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9970009, Deep Learning Algorithms for FreeSurfer (1R01AG064027-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9970009. Licensed CC0.

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