The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility: Evaluating the First Years

Abstract

In January 2004 the ministers of research of the OECD countries endorsed the recommendation from the Neuroinformatics Working Group of the OECD Global Science Forum to start a global neuroinformatics initiative to coordinate international research and resources in the field. As a result, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) was established in August 2005. The INCF has an unusual structure for an international initiative, shown in Fig. 1. It is build on top of national nodes, which are centers of excellence in neuroinformatics supported by national governments and which promote the growth of neuroinformatics at the local level, coordinated by a secretariat. A governing board, composed of representatives from the 15 supporting member countries from Asia, Europe and North America (see http://www.incf.org for an up to date list), provides overview and strategic planning to the activities of the secretariat. In November 2005, after a competitive bid, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden was selected as the site for the secretariat. Dr. Jan Bjaalie was appointed executive director of the secretariat in 2006, a role taken over by Dr. Mark Ellisman earlier this year. Four years after its foundation the operations of the INCF were reviewed as a prelude towards a decision on extending its life beyond the initial five year period. In this editorial I will present a personal overview of the main activities of the INCF based on a document that was prepared for the international review process, which will be described at the end. The most established activities of the INCF are its programs, the web portal and the Neuroinformatics Congress. In addition, there are local initiatives managed by the national nodes, that are beyond the scope of this editorial, and a series of workshops on educational activities. The INCF programs have had a slow start but are now becoming quite visible and it is my belief that these activities will become the main contribution of the INCF to the field. All three active programs have a focus on the establishment of international standards, which is by definition an activity that cannot be done at a national level. Moreover, neuroscience is lagging behind compared to other biological fields in formulating international standards for nomenclature (Bug et al. 2008) or for describing experimental data (Teeters et al. 2008) or models (Cannon et al. 2007; De Schutter 2008). The first program is on digital atlasing, which has a focus on the rodent brain. Central to this program is a new standard for mapping, called the Waxholm Space (named after the site of a key meeting in 2008). The Waxholm Space is a coordinate-based reference space for the mapping and registration of neuroanatomical data. FIrst steps in its construction are the development of a standardized acquisition procedure for passing data into the Space, using a high-resolution MRI dataset and companion Nissl-stained reconstructions. Next key reference atlases will be registered into the Space and a set of best practices for experimenters to ensure Waxholm Space compatibility will be proposed. Erik De Schutter is co-editor in chief of this journal and also member of the INCF governing board and chair of the INCF program for largescale computing.