BRAIN CAST: An MRIQC-guided pipeline for age- and sex-specific pediatric brain MRI template construction, validated by downstream structural fidelity

BRAIN CAST generates 28 templates (14 ages × 2 sexes) from 1,272 children, using an MRIQC-guided workflow that includes reduced-strength denoising, CSF-anchored intensity normalization, deep-learning skull stripping, and iterative groupwise diffeomorphic registration. Existing atlases often pool wide age ranges or ignore sex differences, blurring developmental trajectories. The authors validate the templates by showing downstream structural fidelity, implying that using age- and sex-matched templates improves registration and segmentation accuracy. This resource could serve as a standard reference for pediatric neuroimaging studies, with potential applications in detecting atypical development.