People are diverse, and the environments they live in may influence them differently. This broad diversity increases the need for neuroimaging studies that collect data from large communities. In a new eNeuro paper, Tara Thiagarajan, from Sapiens Labs, and colleagues showcase the feasibility of going to low- and middle-income communities and collecting large-scale, high-quality data.
In their paper, the authors share the methods they used to create two ongoing data acquisition programs in India and Tanzania. These programs provide nonspecialist training, structured teams, and automated data quality monitoring. So far, the programs have collected data from 7,933 participants over a period of 30 weeks. Not only is the data quality comparable to datasets from controlled lab settings, but test subject costs are also substantially lower, demonstrating the cost effectiveness of the programs.
This study highlights the potential for implementing scalable neuroimaging research in low- and middle-income countries that previously was not possible. While the data from this study are not currently openly shared, the researchers have a goal of sharing their data in real time on a day-to-day basis by 2026. Adds Thiagarajan, "This work opens up a new way of understanding humanity and how the environment is shaping human beings."
