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Multi-modal neuroimaging in premanifest and early Huntington's disease: 18 month longitudinal data from the IMAGE-HD study PLoS ONE. 2013 Sep 16;8(9):e74131. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074131. By: Domínguez D JF, Egan GF, Gray MA, Poudel GR, Churchyard A, Chua P, Stout JC, Georgiou-Karistianis N (Summary by Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis, PhD) IMAGE-HD is an Australia-based longitudinal multimodal biomarker development study that followed individuals with HD, and healthy controls, over 30 months. Results from IMAGE-HD have made significant contributions to biomarker discovery and to understanding of the impact of HD neuropathology on brain structure, microstructure, connectivity, and function during both the premanifest and early symptomatic stages. However, much remains to be discovered about the contribution of specific brain regions and/or networks to the phenotypic heterogeneity of HD, and whether these decline at different rates. Such knowledge will be essential for well-targeted disease management strategies and therapeutic interventions. It will be important in the future to investigate the heterogeneity of HD in terms of brain endophenotypes and their relationships with cognitive, psychiatric and motor exophenotypes. Understanding how genetic and/or environmental factors modify these relationships and influence their development will be key to this endeavor. This will require a range of innovative approaches and novel analytical techniques, such as high- throughput connectomics and predictive computational models. There is also growing evidence for the potential benefit of cognitive and physical training in forestalling further worsening of HD symptoms. Such non-pharmaceutical interventions offer new and exciting possibilities to explore disease-modifying potential and to determine their neural mechanisms of action. The new CAVE2™ at Monash University will provide state-of-the art capacity for high-throughput neuroimaging data for visualization and sorting of brain images based on pre-defined characteristics, which will enable imaging data to be visualized in new and exciting ways. Image: The Monash CAVE2™, next-generation immersive hybrid 2D and 3D virtual reality environment that enables the interactive exploration of high-throughput imaging data to develop new hypotheses and discover new biomarkers. Research Round-Up: Insights, cont... Copyright © Huntington Study Group 2014. All rights reserved. H D I N S I G H T S HD Insights, Vol. 9 9