Dr. Stephen Strother

Senior Scientist Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest

Professor Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto

Research Focus

My research is directed at developing and testing a set of optimal experimental planning and analysis tools for neuroimaging researchers that are coupled with our own, and others', state-of-the-art neuroimaging research data-bases. The ultimate goal is to optimize and merge neuroimaging and meta-data in a more principled manner to yield new insights into human mental functions, how they are changed with normal aging, and compromised by damage and disease in the aging brain.

As an example we are focusing on optimized experimental neuroimaging protocols for Vascular Cognitive Impairment and stroke using multiple behavioural tasks that take only a short time to complete, and are suitable as clinical probes of cognitive brain function. Our goal is to develop a database library of such probes to assist in designing new multi-task protocols that can be tailored to a particular clinical or research goal as a function of age, and to predict likely prognosis and treatment outcomes.

These goals require optimization of the experimental designs, data-analysis algorithms and associated software tools being developed for cognitive neuroscience and clinical fMRI as a function of age, in the so-called "fMRI processing pipeline". We do this with a particular focus on brain networks measured using multivariate machine learning models and resampling techniques from the field of statistical learning theory. In particular we are developing a quantitative testing framework that focuses on prediction and reproducibility metrics called NPAIRS. This software package combined with the Partial Least Square tools developed by Randy McIntosh is distributed as an opensource Java package.

Neuroimaging processing pipeline choices pose a range of critical issues, particularly which tools/packages to use for a particular experiment. All too often these choices are resolved expediently in favour of availability, familiarity and ease of use in the hope that the exact choices will not significantly change the experimental results. However, there is growing evidence that new insights into human brain function may be obscured by poor choices in the image processing pipeline particularly as a function of age and disease.

Academic Appointments

• 2004–Present: Senior Scientist , Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2004–Present: Professor , Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2007–2010: Full Member, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2007–2010: Member, Program in Neuroscience, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2008–2010: Core Member, Centre for Stroke Recovery

Research Groups

• 2004–Present: Anita Oder, Research Assistant/Programmer, Integrating Predictive Modeling and PLS in a Java Framework
• 2008: Wayne Lee, Research Assistant, fMRI Processing
• 2005–2008: Wayne Lee, MBP masters student, Assessing the Efficacy of Preprocessing Choices: Intensity Normalisation as a Function of Task and Age
• 2005–2007: Mani Fazeli, MBP masters student, Assessing the Efficacy of Preprocessing Choices: Residual Motion Artifacts as a Function of Task and Age
• 2006–Present: Grigori Yourganov, IMS PhD student, Rotman Research Institute (Co-supervised with Dr. R. McIntosh)
• 2007–Present: Jennifer Evans, IMS PhD student, Hospital for Sick Children (Co-supervised with Dr. M. Taylor)
• 2007–Present: Chris Thomas, Postdoctoral Fellow

Reviewership

Committee

• 2002–Present: Chair, Data Format Working Group of Neuroinformatics Technology Initiative, NIH,
• 2006–Present: External Advisory Committee, Functional Bioinformatics Resource Network (fBIRN

Editorial Board

• 2003–Present: Human Brain Mapping, Associate Editor
• 2007–Present: Frontiers in NeuroInformatics, Review Editor

Research Projects

External

• 2007–2011: Towards Clinical FMRI: Characterizing a Rapid, Multitask, fMRI Battery as a Function of Age
  Collaborators: SC Strother, S Graham, C Grady, J Ween

  Sponsors: CIHR, 240,000 (Cdn)

  Research Grant
• 2007–2010: Memory and attention in people who experienced a single life-threatening event
  Collaborators: Levine, B., Anderson, A.K., McKinnon, M., Moscovitch, M., Feinstein, A., Mayberg, H., Graham, S.I., Strother, S., and McIntosh, A.R.

  Sponsors: National Institutes of Mental Health, 731,652 (USD)

  Research Grant

  R01 MH076067-02,(3 years) US$10,944 (Equipment).
  

• 2005–2008: Network mechanisms underlying cognition and recovery of function in the human brain
  Collaborators: AR McIntosh

  Sponsors: Bridging Brain, Mind, and Behavior, James S. McDonnell Foundation, 4,200,000 (USD)

  Research Grant

  Link: http://www.jsmf.org/

• 2005–2007: fMRI Research via Database Mining, Management. Project 2: Optimizing fMRI Processing Pipelines
  Collaborators: MS Gazzaniga, PhD, Dartmouth College

  Sponsors: National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, 1,500,000 (USD)

  Research Grant

  Core-Project 1: J Van Horn; Project 2: SC Strother; Project 3: M D'Esposito
  Project 2: US$200,000
  

Curriculum Vitae

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