Test retest cross-scanner multi-modal brain MRI of healthy subjects: B-Q Minded Brain Study

TRCSMM Brain study is part of B-Q MINDED project (https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/b-q-minded/). B-Q MINDED is an international research project on quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Jan Sijbers. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 764513. By combining research, innovation, and education, B-Q MINDED will pave the way for introducing Quantitative-MRI into the clinic. Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) and supervisors of B-Q MINDED cooperated to acquire this comprehensive dataset for healthy volunteers to evaluate and harmonize quantitative MRI metrics to improve the comparability of data acquired in multiple scanners and, to improve the robustness of parameter estimation.   

TRCSMM Brain study was approved by the UZA Ethics Committee on January 6th, 2020, with number 19/50/620 and Belgian registration number B300202042715. Healthy volunteers were scanned in two 3 Tesla Siemens scanners at UZA radiology department (Siemens Skyra and Siemens PrismaFit). The image acquisition protocol included anatomical and  diffusion sequences. The investigators involved in the TRCSMM Brain study are part of the B-Q MINDED project: Prof. Dr. Pieter Van Dyck (UZA, Principal Investigator), Prof. Dr. Jan Sijbers (UA), Dr. Thibo Billiet (icometrix), MSc. Floris Vanhevel (UZA), MSc. Maira Siqueira Pinto (UZA, UA), MSc. Celine Smekens (Siemens, UA) and MSc. Roberto Paolella (icometrix, UA).

Citations to be included in studies in which the B-Q MINDED dataset is used: 

Pinto, M., Paolella, R., Smekens, C., Vanhevel, F., Billiet, T., Sijbers, J., & Van Dyck, P. (2025). Test Retest Cross-Scanner Multi-Modal Brain MRI of Healthy Subjects: B-Q Minded Brain Study [Data set]. Switzerland: Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.6473268

Pinto M.S., Anania V., Paolella R., Smekens C., Billiet T., Janssens T., den Dekker A.J., Sijbers J., Guns P-J. & Van Dyck P. (2025) Harmonization of diffusion MRI on healthy
subjects using NeuroCombat and LongCombat: a B-Q MINDED brain intra- and inter-scanner study. Front. Neurosci. 19:1591169. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1591169