SINAPSE researchers welcomed image analysis experts from National Taiwan University (NTU) to Scotland in September 2017, as part of an international research collaboration on diffusion MRI data analysis supported by funding from the Roland Sutton Academic Trust.

Our guests from the Advanced Biomedical MRI Lab at NTU were Professor Wen-Yih Isaac Tseng, Dr Yun-Chin Eric Hsu, and PhD student Yao-Chia Shih. Dr Gordon Waiter from the University of Aberdeen was delighted to host the three visitors in Aberdeen following a visit to Prof Tseng’s lab that he and Dr David Dickie made as SINAPSE representatives in May 2016.

The purpose of the return exchange visit was for the Taiwan researchers to join Dr Waiter in initiating a project to study the mechanisms of age-related changes in brain structure using data from UK Biobank, implementing the Tract Based Automatic Analysis (TBAA) technique developed in Prof Tseng’s lab for analysis of brain white matter fibre connections on the High Performance Computing Cluster in Aberdeen.

While in Scotland, the Taiwan visitors also were able to meet with SINAPSE research groups outside of Aberdeen. They made a side trip to Edinburgh with Dr Kristin Flegal, where uncommonly pleasant autumn weather allowed for an enjoyable afternoon of sightseeing:

Another opportunity for our guests to discuss research with SINAPSE members from across Scotland was at the first meeting of the SINAPSE Image Analysis group, held at the University of Dundee. Scottish delegates were treated to keynote talks on the exciting diffusion MRI work from Prof Tseng’s lab, and in turn were able to present some of the most innovative image analysis research projects around the SINAPSE network. Additionally, the event provided an opportunity for the Taiwan visitors to reunite with Dr Dickie as well as Dr Waiter:

It has been a pleasure to build an image analysis collaboration between Scotland and Taiwan through bilateral exchange visits, and we all look forward to further development of this research partnership.