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David A. Rottenberg, M.D. Professor, Departments of Neurology and Radiology E-mail: dar@neurovia.umn.edu Homepage: www.neurovia.umn.edu/home/dar/ Other Website: http://neurovia.umn.edu

Research Interests:

Our major research programs, which focus on PET and fMRI data analysis, scientific visualization, and computational anatomy, are described on the INC website at www.neurovia.umn.edu/incweb

Two of my major research interests involve surface-based anatomy and automated feature-based image registration:

WHY SURFACE-BASED ANALYSES?
Since the cerebral/cerebellar cortex is topologically equivalent to a 2D sheet, surface representations of the cortex facilitate the visualization and analysis of functional activation data by preserving important geometrical and topological relationships; moreover, surface representations are compact, provide excellent "visibility," and can be parameterized using 2D coordinate systems which respect the topology of the cortical sheet. Various approaches to flat-mapping the cerebral/cerebellar cortex have been described by us and others, and the virtues of each approach have been lauded. Broadly speaking, three factors may contribute to the improved accuracy of surface-based analyses:
(i) intrasubject spatial localization, (ii) intersubject registration, and
(iii) data analysis.

WHY STUDY FEATURE BASED REGISTRATION ALGORITHMS?
Currently, two of our research projects (Consensus Patterns in Functional Neuroimaging and Computational Anatomy and Visualization) highlight our central focus on modeling and visualization of spatial and temporal patterns of functional activation in the living human brain. However, both of these projects require high-quality image registration in order to successfully address the research questions being investigated. While numerous feature-based 3D registration algorithms for inter- and intrasubject registration of PET, MRI, and fMRI brain volumes have been proposed, the performance of such algorithms has yet to be optimized with regard to feature hierarchy and selection. In addition, "goodness-of-warp" criteria may vary depending upon the research question being addressed or upon the type and quality of MRI/fMRI data.

Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

Kao CY, Hofer M, Sapiro G, Stem J, Rehm K, Rottenberg DA. A geometric method for automatic extraction of sulcal fundi. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2007 Apr;26(4):530-40.

Bernat JL, Rottenberg DA. Conscious awareness in PVS and MCS: the borderlands of neurology. Neurology. 2007 Mar 20;68(12):885-6. No abstract available.

Liang L, Rehm K, Woods RP, Rottenberg DA. Automatic segmentation of left and right cerebral hemispheres from MRI brain volumes using the graph cuts algorithm. Neuroimage. 2007 Feb 1;34(3):1160-70.

Clark KA, Woods RP, Rottenberg DA , Toga AW, Mazziotta JC. Impact of acquisition pro­tocols and processing streams on tissue segmentation of T1 weighted MR images. NeuroImage 29:185-202, 2006.

Sidtis JJ, Gomez C, Naoum A, Strother SC, Rottenberg DA . Mapping cerebral blood flow during speech production in hereditary ataxia. NeuroImage 31:246-254, 2006.

Ju L, Hurdal M, Stern J, Rehm K, Schaper K, Rottenberg, DA . Quantitative Evaluation of Three Cortical Surface Flattening Methods. NeuroImage 28:869-880, 2005.

Boesen K, Rehm K, Schaper K, Stoltzner S, Woods R, Lüders E, Rottenberg D . Quantitative comparison of four brain extraction algorithms. NeuroImage 22(3): 1255-1261, 2004.

Rehm K, Schaper K, Anderson J, Woods R, Stoltzner S, Rottenberg D . Putting our heads together: a consensus approach to brain/non-brain segmentation in T1-weighted MR volumes. NeuroImage 22(3): 1262-1270, 2004.

Strother S, LaConte S, Hansen LK, Anderson J, Zhang J, Pulapura S, Rottenberg D . Optimizing the fMRI data-processing pipeline using prediction and reproducibility performance metrics. NeuroImage 23, S196-S207, 2004

Sidtis JJ, Strother SC, Rottenberg DA . The effect of set on the resting state in functional neuroimaging: a role for the striatum? NeuroImage 22:1407-1413, 2004.

Rex DE, Shattuck DW, Woods RP, Narr KL, Luders E, Rehm K, Stolzner SE, Rottenberg DA , Toga AW. A meta-algorithm for brain extraction in MRI. NeuroImage 23:625-637, 2004.