Big Field of View MRI T1w and FLAIR Template - NMRI225

Image templates are a common tool for neuroscience research. Often, they are used for spatial normalization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, which is a necessary procedure for analyzing brain morphology and function via voxel-based analysis. This allows the researcher to reduce individual shape differences across images and make inferences across multiple subjects. Many templates have a small field-of-view typically focussed on the brain, limiting the use for applications requiring detailed information about other extra-cranial structures in the head and neck area. However, there are several applications where such information is important, for example source reconstruction of electroencephalography (EEG) and/or magnetoencephalography (MEG). We have constructed a new template based on 225 T1w and FLAIR images with a big field-of-view that can serve both as target for across subject spatial normalization as well as a basis to build high-resolution head models. This template is based on and iteratively re-registered to the MNI152 space to provide maximal compatibility with the most commonly used brain MRI template.