The ENIGMA Consortium: Large-scale collaborative analyses of neuroimaging and genetic data

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California
  • University of California at Los Angeles
  • Queensland Institute of Medical Research
  • Radboud University Nijmegen
  • Institut Pasteur Paris
  • King's College London (KCL)
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • University of Oslo
  • Dalhousie University
  • Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
  • McGill University
  • Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Brown University
  • Northwestern University
  • University of Iowa
  • University of Greifswald
  • University of Sydney
  • University of Edinburgh
  • A Platform for Scientific Excellence (SINAPSE) Collaboration
  • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry
  • Advanced Biomedical Informatics Group, LLC
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
  • Utrecht University
  • Russian Academy of Sciences
  • University of New Mexico
  • The Mind Research Network
  • University of Galway
  • Harvard University

Abstract

The Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium is a collaborative network of researchers working together on a range of large-scale studies that integrate data from 70 institutions worldwide. Organized into Working Groups that tackle questions in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine, ENIGMA studies have analyzed neuroimaging data from over 12,826 subjects. In addition, data from 12,171 individuals were provided by the CHARGE consortium for replication of findings, in a total of 24,997 subjects. By meta-analyzing results from many sites, ENIGMA has detected factors that affect the brain that no individual site could detect on its own, and that require larger numbers of subjects than any individual neuroimaging study has currently collected. ENIGMA's first project was a genome-wide association study identifying common variants in the genome associated with hippocampal volume or intracranial volume. Continuing work is exploring genetic associations with subcortical volumes (ENIGMA2) and white matter microstructure (ENIGMA-DTI). Working groups also focus on understanding how schizophrenia, bipolar illness, major depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect the brain. We review the current progress of the ENIGMA Consortium, along with challenges and unexpected discoveries made on the way.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)153-182
Number of pages30
JournalBrain imaging and behavior
Volume8
Issue number2
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 8 Jan 2014
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 24399358
ORCID /0000-0003-2132-4445/work/160950856
ORCID /0000-0002-2666-859X/work/160952944
ORCID /0000-0002-3415-5583/work/160953191