#3 MRI biomarkers - ataxia-global-initiative

Working Group 3
WG Name	MR biomarkers
WG Leads	Lead: Gülin Öz (Minnesota, USA) Co-leads: Sirio Cocozza (Naples, Italy) Ian Harding (Melbourne, Australia) Pierre-Gilles Henry (Minnesota, USA) Jennifer Faber (Bonn, Germany)
WG Objectives	To harmonize magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) data acquisition protocols across centers to further understand natural history and future treatment options for SCAs and ARCAs. To provide guidelines for core and advanced MRI/MRS protocols designed to obtain structural, biochemical and functional MR biomarkers. To generate an MRI/MRS database accessible to all ataxia investigators.
Results	The initial activities of the WG focused on global outreach to identify all parties who may be interested in joining the WG and on collecting information on infrastructure at participating MR sites. Next, we worked on devising recommendations for optimum MRI/MRS protocols for SCAs and ARCAs. The Core protocols will include structural scans (T1&T2), while the Advanced protocols will include additional modalities to monitor multiple aspects of progressive pathology, such as diffusion MRI, MRS, quantitative susceptibility mapping and resting state MRI. Finally, we are investigating options to host a global ataxia imaging database.

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