Cross-modality frame alignment for surgical robot electrode insertion

Scanners for animals often use different image orientations as in clinical scanners. Multi-modal imaging further introduces shifts between images since the animal cannot be placed in the exact same position in the field of view. This necessitates a cross-modality registration step. This protocol details step by step how to use stereotaxic frame features to align (or coregister) monkey head CT and MR images in a clinical ROSA ONE Brain robot (website link), in preparation for electrode insertion planning. Protocol detailing scanning parameters for non-human primates using the 3D printed MR-compatible stereotaxic frame (and critical steps to visualize ear bars for registration) can be found here: dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.q26g7p7rkgwz/v1 The computer-aided design files and engineering drawings for the frame used in this protocol are publicly available, with the modular design allowing for low cost and manageable manufacturing. You can find it here: https://github.com/SchaefferLab/Macaque-Stereotax This protocol is supplementary to the manuscript: Liang, L., Zimmermann Rollin, I., Alikaya, A., Ho, J.C., Santini, T., Bostan, A.C., Schwerdt, H.N., Stauffer, W.R., Ibrahim, T.S., Pirondini, E., Schaeffer, D.J., 2024. An open-source MRI compatible frame for multimodal presurgical mapping in macaque and capuchin monkeys. BioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.17.580767