AUTHOR=Ji Jie Lisa , Demšar Jure , Fonteneau Clara , Tamayo Zailyn , Pan Lining , Kraljič Aleksij , Matkovič Andraž , Purg Nina , Helmer Markus , Warrington Shaun , Winkler Anderson , Zerbi Valerio , Coalson Timothy S. , Glasser Matthew F. , Harms Michael P. , Sotiropoulos Stamatios N. , Murray John D. , Anticevic Alan , Repovš Grega TITLE=QuNex—An integrative platform for reproducible neuroimaging analytics JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroinformatics VOLUME=17 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroinformatics/articles/10.3389/fninf.2023.1104508 DOI=10.3389/fninf.2023.1104508 ISSN=1662-5196 ABSTRACT=Introduction

Neuroimaging technology has experienced explosive growth and transformed the study of neural mechanisms across health and disease. However, given the diversity of sophisticated tools for handling neuroimaging data, the field faces challenges in method integration, particularly across multiple modalities and species. Specifically, researchers often have to rely on siloed approaches which limit reproducibility, with idiosyncratic data organization and limited software interoperability.

Methods

To address these challenges, we have developed Quantitative Neuroimaging Environment & Toolbox (QuNex), a platform for consistent end-to-end processing and analytics. QuNex provides several novel functionalities for neuroimaging analyses, including a “turnkey” command for the reproducible deployment of custom workflows, from onboarding raw data to generating analytic features.

Results

The platform enables interoperable integration of multi-modal, community-developed neuroimaging software through an extension framework with a software development kit (SDK) for seamless integration of community tools. Critically, it supports high-throughput, parallel processing in high-performance compute environments, either locally or in the cloud. Notably, QuNex has successfully processed over 10,000 scans across neuroimaging consortia, including multiple clinical datasets. Moreover, QuNex enables integration of human and non-human workflows via a cohesive translational platform.

Discussion

Collectively, this effort stands to significantly impact neuroimaging method integration across acquisition approaches, pipelines, datasets, computational environments, and species. Building on this platform will enable more rapid, scalable, and reproducible impact of neuroimaging technology across health and disease.