The BigBrain Workshop 2017 was a great success, thanks to a collection of world-renowned speakers, led by Pr Karl Zilles, and local explorers of the dataset. Titles covered very high resolution data collection (Zilles, Palomero-Gallagher), storage and manipulation (Glatard), as well as analysis and visualisation of big data (Borgeat, Istomin, Mohlberg). Protocols for the manual and automatic creation of subcortical atlases were described (Jones, Olsen, Sadikot), and anatomical, physiological, and neuroinformatics applications using these cytoarchitectural labels were demonstrated (DeKraker, Dagher, Hyder, Lewis).
The BigBrain processing and reconstruction techniques (Lepage – poster) and the resulting dataset also found application in simulations for positron emission tomography (Funck – poster) and the creation of functional atlases (Fournier – poster), and could be enhanced by high-resolution 3D microscopy data (Lefebvre, Delafontaine-Martel – poster). We were also treated to innovative applications of machine and deep learning approaches on the BigBrain data, from the automatic labelling of the cortex, to labelling of the layers of the cortex, to labelling of the cells within the layers of the cortex (Spitzer, Wagstyl, Stajduhar).
The successful outcome must also be attributed in part to all participants to the workshop, to our enthusiastic volunteers, our dedicated organising committee, our Director Dr Alan Evans, and our generous sponsors : the MCIN, the Ludmer Centre, and the HBHL.
