The EurOPDX Data Portal: an open platform for patient-derived cancer xenograft data sharing and visualization.

BACKGROUND: Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) mice models play an important role in preclinical trials and personalized medicine. Sharing data on the models is highly valuable for numerous reasons - ethical, economical, research cross validation etc. The EurOPDX Consortium was established 8 years ago to share such information and avoid duplicating efforts in developing new PDX mice models and unify approaches to support preclinical research. EurOPDX Data Portal is the unified data sharing platform adopted by the Consortium. MAIN BODY: In this paper we describe the main features of the EurOPDX Data Portal ( https://dataportal.europdx.eu/ ), its architecture and possible utilization by researchers who look for PDX mice models for their research. The Portal offers a catalogue of European models accessible on a cooperative basis. The models are searchable by metadata, and a detailed view provides molecular profiles (gene expression, mutation, copy number alteration) and treatment studies. The Portal displays the data in multiple tools (PDX Finder, cBioPortal, and GenomeCruzer in future), which are populated from a common database displaying strictly mutually consistent views. (SHORT) CONCLUSION: EurOPDX Data Portal is an entry point to the EurOPDX Research Infrastructure offering PDX mice models for collaborative research, (meta)data describing their features and deep molecular data analysis according to users' interests.

NeuroVR 1.5 - a free virtual reality platform for the assessment and treatment in clinical psychology and neuroscience.

At MMVR 2007 we presented NeuroVR (http://www.neurovr.org) a free virtual reality platform based on open-source software. The software allows non-expert users to adapt the content of 14 pre-designed virtual environments to the specific needs of the clinical or experimental setting. Following the feedbacks of the 700 users who downloaded the first version, we developed a new version - NeuroVR 1.5 - that improves the possibility for the therapist to enhance the patient's feeling of familiarity and intimacy with the virtual scene, by using external sounds, photos or videos. Specifically, the new version now includes full sound support and the ability of triggering external sounds and videos using the keyboard. The outcomes of different trials made using NeuroVR will be presented and discussed.

NeuroVR 1.5 in Practice: Actual Clinical Applications of the Open Source VR System.

At CT 2007, we presented NeuroVR (http://www.neurovr.org), a free virtual reality platform based on open-source software. The software allows non-expert users to adapt the content of 14 pre-designed virtual environments to the specific needs of the clinical or experimental setting. Following the feedbacks of the 700 users who downloaded the first version, we developed a new version - NeuroVR 1.5 - that improves the possibility for the therapist to enhance the patient's feeling of familiarity and intimacy with the virtual scene, by using external sounds, photos or videos. The key characteristics that make NeuroVR suitable for most clinical applications are the high level of control of the interaction with the tool, and the enriched experience provided to the patient. Actually, NeuroVR is used in the assessment and treatment of Obesity, Alcohol Abuse, Anxiety Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorders, and Cognitive Rehabilitation.

NeuroVR: an open source virtual reality platform for clinical psychology and behavioral neurosciences.

In the past decade, the use of virtual reality for clinical and research applications has become more widespread. However, the diffusion of this approach is still limited by three main issues: poor usability, lack of technical expertise among clinical professionals, and high costs. To address these challenges, we introduce NeuroVR (http://www.neurovr.org--http://www.neurotiv.org), a cost-free virtual reality platform based on open-source software, that allows non-expert users to adapt the content of a pre-designed virtual environment to meet the specific needs of the clinical or experimental setting. Using the NeuroVR Editor, the user can choose the appropriate psychological stimuli/stressors from a database of objects (both 2D and 3D) and videos, and easily place them into the virtual environment. The edited scene can then be visualized in the NeuroVR Player using either immersive or non-immersive displays. Currently, the NeuroVR library includes different virtual scenes (apartment, office, square, supermarket, park, classroom, etc.), covering two of the most studied clinical applications of VR: specific phobias and eating disorders. The NeuroVR Editor is based on Blender (http://www.blender.org), the open source, cross-platform suite of tools for 3D creation, and is available as a completely free resource. An interesting feature of the NeuroVR Editor is the possibility to add new objects to the database. This feature allows the therapist to enhance the patient's feeling of familiarity and intimacy with the virtual scene, i.e., by using photos or movies of objects/people that are part of the patient's daily life, thereby improving the efficacy of the exposure. The NeuroVR platform runs on standard personal computers with Microsoft Windows; the only requirement for the hardware is related to the graphics card, which must support OpenGL.