Welcome to the NBDC Sandbox Tutorial Series!
This tutorial series was developed as part of the 2026 HDCC Workshop - see workshop syllabus here.
Large-scale initiatives such as the HEALthy Brain Child Development (HBCD) Study are generating unprecedented volumes of longitudinal neuroimaging and behavioral data. These datasets provide powerful opportunities to study how brain development interacts with environmental influences across critical early life periods.
HBCD (as well as ABCD) study data is available via the NBDC Data Access Platform, a centralized portal where researchers can explore, search, request access to, and download release data. The NBDC Sandbox extends this platform by providing a secure, cloud-based analysis environment where approved users can analyze release data directly without downloading or managing large datasets locally. The Sandbox provides:
- Secure access to controlled NBDC datasets such as HBCD Study data
- A user-friendly, browser-based virtual desktop environment suitable for both beginner and advanced users
- Built-in analysis tools including RStudio and Jupyter Notebook
This tutorial series will guide you through accessing the NBDC Sandbox and using its analysis tools to explore HBCD Study data within the NBDC ecosystem. See the HBCD Data Release Docs for detailed documentation about the latest release data.