MAILMAN RESEARCH CENTER
Neurostatistics Laboratory
The Neurostatistics Laboratory Staff |
The Neurostatistics Laboratory (NSL) focuses on biostatistical methodology and its applications to in vivo and postmortem brain imaging of humans and animals. Our research interests include the following areas: functional and anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging and tractography (DT-MRI) and brightfield and immuno-fluorescence microscopy for brain tissue analysis of gene expression and interacting levels of a variety of neurotransmitters across brain structures. Our statistical methodologies include: 2D and 3D marked spatial point processes, longitudinal data analysis, spatio-temporal time series, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), semi-parametric regression, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis.
NSL's present neuroscience projects include the development and application of statistical methods in MRI modalities for the study of healthy human brain development over the lifespan, child and adult schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and childhood autism. We work closely with other scientists at McLean and worldwide in these research areas as peer collaborators, as well as conduct independent methodological research in neuroimaging biostatistics. The NSL houses a brightfield and immuno-fluorescence microscope with motion-programmable stage, and a host of computational hardware as well as a collection of biostatistical and image analysis software.
The lab is currently engaged in collaborations with several other laboratories at McLean Hospital, including Dr. Sabina Berretta's Laboratory for Translational Neuroscience and Dr. Bruce Cohen's Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory. Additional collaborations include the National Institutes of Health's MRI study of normal pediatric brain development, the National Institutes of Health's Collaborative Program of Excellence in Autism (CPEA) and National Institute of Mental Health’s Studies to Advance Autism Treatment (STAART) Network, Autism Speaks, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia.
Fig 1: Diffusion tensor imaging of the human brain, comparing a current method of analysis with a new method developed in the
Neurostatistics Laboratory 
Fig. 2: Longitudinal parametric and smooth regression models for total cerebral human growth for young men and women 
Fig. 3: Automatic segmentation of digital images of Fos expression in rat brain for the identification, counting and spatial pattern detection of Fos-positive nuclei |
Personnel
- Nicholas Lange, Sc.D. - Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics & Director, Neurostatistics Laboratory, Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health (e-mail))
- Johanna Neslehova, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow, McLean Hospital
- Michael Froimowitz, M.S. - Application Analyst, McLean Hospital & Associate in
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
- John Scott, A.M. - Doctoral Student
- Sabina Berretta, M.D. - Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Director, Laboratory for Translational Neuroscience (e-mail)
- Harry Pantazopoulos, M.S. - Research Assistant (e-mail)
Research Support
- Autism Speaks
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Selected Publications
- Harezlak J, Ryan LM, Giedd JN, Lange N. Individual and population penalized regression splines for accelerated longitudinal designs. Biometrics 2005; 61:1037-1048.
- Lange N, Lake S, Sperling R, Brown J, Routledge C, Albert M, Heckers S. Two macroscopic and microscopic brain imaging studies of human hippocampus in early Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia research. Stat. Med. 2004; 23(2):327-350.
- Wager CG, Coull BA, Lange N. Modeling spatial intensity for replicated inhomogeneous point patterns in brain imaging. J. Roy. Stat. Soc., Ser B 2004; 66:429-446.
- Lange N. What can modern statistics offer imaging neuroscience? Stat. Meth. Med. Res. 2003; 12(5):447-469.
- Benes FB and Lange N. Two-dimensional versus three-dimensional cell counting: A practical perspective. Trends Neurosci 2001; 24:11-17.
- Young D, Ma J, Cherkerzian S, Froimowitz MP, Ennulat DJ, Cohen BM, Evans M, Lange N. Automated identification of Fos expression. Biostatistics 2001; 2:351-364.
