Population-specific brain templates for adolescent collision-sport athletes in Purdue Neurotrauma Group longitudinal database

<p>We developed a population-specific anatomical (T1-weighted) and a DTI template that target adolescent collision-sport (American football, soccer) athletes, based on the MRI scans from the longitudinal database of Purdue Neurotrauma Group. The templates were developed in an effort to minimize bias introduced in spatial normalization, improve sensitivity of voxel-wise statistical analysis, and therefore better clarify the mechanisms that lead to traumatic brain injury in adolescent athletes, which is one of our long-term commitments to this vulnerable population. Image processing software, including <em>FSL</em> and <em>ANTS</em>, were used to create the templates. To scale and speed up the atlas creation, we established a high-throughput high-performance computing workflow which integrated Open Science Grid and Purdue Community Clusters.</p>