About LONI

MISSION

At LONI, we strive to improve our understanding of the brain in health and disease. LONI is a leader in the development of advanced computational algorithms and scientific approaches for the comprehensive and quantitative mapping of brain structure and function.

ORGANIZATION

Begun as a research laboratory in 1983 at the Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis, the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging moved to the University of California at Los Angeles in 1987. Today it is one of the country's foremost neurological research centers.

LONI works towards uncovering new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone by:

conducting research and building population-based and disease-specific digital brain atlases;
helping in the training of research investigators; and
fostering communication of medical information.

Laboratory Director Dr. Arthur W. Toga and his large multi-disciplinary staff have over 15 years of experience in neuroimaging and analyses of brain mapping data. The Laboratory is continually developing, refining and validating neuroimaging strategies that accommodate different data acquisition methods, populations, laboratories and species.

Investigations into brain structure and function require a diverse array of tools to create, analyze, visualize, and interact with models of the brain. The laboratory houses a large super computer, over 50 workstations and a data archival system of over 100 terabytes. The LONI Scientific Visualization Group has a cutting-edge production studio capable of outputting the highest quality video and audio. The wet labs are equipped with state of the art processing equipment for computational neuroanatomy and a suite of optical cameras for functional imaging.

RESEARCH FOCUS

LONI was originally established to study cerebral metabolism with the goal of understanding the relationship between brain structure and function using image data. Work progressed into three-dimensional reconstruction and visualization. This enabled the study of functional anatomy in the same geometric configuration as that found in the living animal. As these reconstructions became more sophisticated, their application to computational atlases became possible.

The construction of brain atlases based on detailed representations of anatomy in a standardized 3D coordinate system is the major focus. The Laboratory addresses the problem of comparing data across individuals as well as across modalities and increased work in humans began. Work is focused on statistical manipulation of the geometry that makes up the anatomic and functional data sets as well as sophisticated visualizations permitting the communication of the results.

OTHER PARTNERS IN RESEARCH

LONI is a key partner in many national and international collaborations, that include universities and academic health centers, and independent research institutions.

LONI acts as the hub of a national neuroimaging resource, directed by Dr. Arthur Toga in the Department of Neurology, which supports over 60 national and international brain imaging collaborations. These collaborations apply novel image analysis approaches to investigate brain structure and function in health and disease.

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