UMass Chan brain research center granted $6M

Photo | Courtesy of UMass Chan Medical School David Kennedy leads to ReproNim neuroinformatics center at UMass Chan Medical School.

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By Katherine Hamilton

David Kennedy, a PhD and neuroinformatics expert at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, received a five-year, $6-million grant renewal to fund a center for brain imaging research.

The grant supports ReproNim: A Center for Reproducible Neuroimaging Computation, a nationally designated biomedical technology research center which produces brain imaging research. It is funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, according to a Wednesday press release from the medical school.

The program is led by Kennedy, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Division of Neuroinformatics of the Child and Adolescent Neurodevelopment Initiative at the UMass Chan Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center.

“The nation has invested in the infrastructure to promote the sharing of raw data, analytic software and results. But very little of that sharing actually takes place,” Kennedy said in a statement. “The goal of ReproNim is to overcome technical and practical barriers that are in the way of using this valuable infrastructure.”

ReproNim’s work helps increase understanding of mental illnesses like schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental disabilities like autism. The center aims to improve reproducibility of neuroimaging research by providing tools in data management and analysis to support other research and clinical activities.

ReproNim received a $1.35-million grant in 2016. The latest funding will support ReproNim for another five years.