Research

Neuroimaging at the Martinos Imaging Center (PDF)
The Scientific Data Flood: A Case Study of "How Much Information?"

Stuart Madnick, John Norris Maguire Professor of Information Technology, MIT Sloan School of Management & Professor of Engineering Systems, MIT School of Engineering

MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director of Technology, MIT Libraries

Kate Clopeck, Masters of Science, Technology and Policy Program, MIT

June 2009

Abstract:
This case study provides a detailed look into the Martinos Imaging Center, a collaborative effort among the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. Researchers at the Martinos Center study the human brain in three interrelated areas: perception, cognition and action. They use different imaging technologies, the main one is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), to study different aspects of the brain. Each MRI session produces a total of 3.6 gigabytes of human image data per subject. The Center sees 1500 subjects a year, generating approximately 5.4 terabytes of data. For all practical purposes, all of this data is saved indefinitely, as MRI scans are expensive, time consuming, and almost impossible to identically reproduce as the same subjects cannot be used again. The Center’s current rate of data generation will increase as scanner hardware and software improves. It is anticipated that improvements over the next five years will increase the size of subject data sessions by a factor of 10 (3.6 gigabytes of data currently, 36 gigabytes of data per session in five years). The case concludes with observations on why there is a lack of data sharing in the field at present, and references some embryonic efforts to develop network platforms for sharing neuroimaging data. Other papers examine other labs at MIT.