Organized by the PROVIDI Lab (ISI - UMC Utrecht) and Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics               Introduction       Registration       Venue & Housing       Literature       Faculty       Programme       Contact

We are very excited to announce the 12th ExploreDTI Workshop, to be held at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany (4-6 December, 2024).

This 3-day workshop includes both the theory and practice of processing, analyzing, and visualizing diffusion MRI data. Key concepts and practical considerations of data processing and analysis are explained with lectures. During the hands-on practical sessions, attendees will learn how to use the ExploreDTI toolbox with real diffusion MRI data. While data for the hands-on sessions are available on site, attendees are free to use their own data sets for the assignments. Attendees need to bring their own laptop for the hands-on sessions.

After completing this ExploreDTI course, one should be able to process, analyze, and visualize their own diffusion MRI data sets.

This course is aimed at both new and existing users of ExploreDTI and will cover both basic and advanced features. The diffusion topics covered are primarily intended for applications in basic science and clinical research and can be summarized as:

1. Quality assessment
   • Residual maps
   • Estimation methods (OLLS, WLLS, NLS, REKINDLE)
2. Artifact correction
   • Signal drift
   • Gibbs Ringing
   • Subject motion and eddy current-induced distortions
   • EPI deformations
3. Diffusion approaches
   • Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
   • Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI)
   • Spherical deconvolution (SD)
4. Fiber tractography
   • Virtual dissection
   • Fiber bundle segment
   • Along-track analysis
5. Automated analyses
   • ROIs (native/atlas space)
   • Tract pathways
   • Connectomics
6. Visualization
   • ROIs
   • Tract pathways
   • Connectomes
   • Making Animations

All lectures and material will be in English.

The registration fee (in EUR) is €500 for academic attendees such as students (BSc/MSc/PhD), postdocs, professors, etc. For commercial attendees, the registration fee is €750. Course registration includes lectures, hands-on practical sessions, opening & closing reception, coffee/tea breaks for each day, one dinner (5th of December), a course certificate, and a "surprise gift". The registration fee does not include accommodation. Tutorial instructions and example data sets will be made available before the course. The lecture slides will be made available after the course.

You can register for this ExploreDTI workshop here. Once the payment is received, registration of the workshop attendee will be confirmed.

Note: the maximum number of attendees is 30 to guarantee the high level of educational support (roughly 10/1 ratio for attendee/tutor). Registration will close on November 25th 2024 at the latest or if the maximum number of participants has been reached.

The ExploreDTI workshop will take place at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany. More specific details about the room locations will be given later.

You will need to organise your own housing for the workshop.

For people with little background in diffusion MRI, we would like to suggest the following literature:

• Descoteaux, Dell'Acqua, Leemans. Handbook of Diffusion MR Tractography
• Jones DK et al. Methods Mol Biol. 2011;711:127-44.
• Tournier JD et al. Magn Reson Med. 2011;65(6):1532-56.
• Jones DK. Diffusion MRI: Theory, Methods, and Applications.
• Johansen-Berg H & Behrens T. Diffusion MRI: From Quantitative Measurement to In Vivo Neuroanatomy.
• Van Hecke W et al. Diffusion Tensor Imaging: A Practical Handbook.
• Stieltjes B et al. Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Introduction and Atlas.
• Jeurissen B. et al. NMR Biomed. 2019;32(4):e3785. Diffusion MRI fiber tractography of the brain.

Workshop organizers
Szabolcs Dávid, Sean Lee, Alexander Leemans, and Hamed Mesri

Speakers
Christian Beaulieu: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada
Alexander Leemans: PROVIDI Lab, Image Sciences Institute, UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands

Teaching assistants
Szabolcs Dávid, Alberto De Luca and Hamed Mesri

On Tuesday 3 December 2024, we plan to have an informal get-together in the evening (time and location tba).

The tentative programme schedule for the 3-day workshop is shown below. Details about the lectures and the hands-on sessions will be given later. Please note that there may be some adjustments to the timetable and teaching faculty. Details about locations for dinner & drinks will also follow later.

If you have any queries about this ExploreDTI workshop, please email workshop@exploredti.com.