ENIGMA and COINSTAC: Turning small datasets into big ones

The use of the Collaborative Informatics and Neuroimaging Suite Toolkit for Anonymized Computation (COINSTAC) platform in the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium combines the technological approach of decentralized, privacy-preserving analyses with the sociological approach of sharing data. I first present how ENIGMA and COINSTAC support neuroimaging data re-use and analysis, and then showcase their integration with a decentralized meta-analysis of sex differences in schizophrenia. This work highlights the improvements needed for true data access and re-use while protecting data restrictions, as well as future connections to other resources for improved access.  

Speaker Bio: Jessica Turner is a Professor of Gerontology, Neuroscience, and Psychology at Georgia State University. She joined the GSU faculty in the fall of 2013 after several years at the Mind Research Network (MRN), Albuquerque, NM, and the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Turner's research program uses neuroimaging of psychiatric populations to improve understanding of the structural and functional circuitry underlying mental illness and health, and integrates several approaches: The combination of imaging with genetics, to identify genotypes which might help individualize treatment and prognosis; structural and functional imaging across multiple institutions to develop robust clinical neuroimaging studies; use of these neuroimaging methods in schizophrenia and other disorders to determine the relationship between brain volume and functional characteristics with disease status and symptom profiles; and large-scale neuroimaging data sharing to support the international collaborations needed to perform imaging genetics analyses.