  Recent developments in data management and imaging technologies have
significantly affected diagnostic and extrapolative research in the
understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the impact of these new
technologies is largely dependent on the speed and reliability with which the
medical data can be visualised, analysed and interpreted. The EUs neuGRID for
Users (N4U) is a follow-on project to neuGRID, which aims to provide an
integrated environment to carry out computational neuroscience experiments.
This paper reports on the design and development of the N4U Analysis Base and
related Information Services, which addresses existing research and practical
challenges by offering an integrated medical data analysis environment with the
necessary building blocks for neuroscientists to optimally exploit neuroscience
workflows, large image datasets and algorithms in order to conduct analyses.
The N4U Analysis Base enables such analyses by indexing and interlinking the
neuroimaging and clinical study datasets stored on the N4U Grid infrastructure,
algorithms and scientific workflow definitions along with their associated
provenance information.
