Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science
Research Toolbox
Anne Hart C. elegans strains
The Hart Lab has developed over 20 Carnorhabditis elegans strains that have been deposited in the C. elegans Genetics Center at the University of Minnesota.
A list of these strains can be accessed through the cgc.umn.edu website.
Contact Information: Anne Hart C. elegans strains
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Anne Hart
Professor of Neuroscience, Graduate Program Director for the Neuroscience Graduate Program, Chair of the Department of Neuroscience
Diane Lipscombe Lab Plasmids
The Diane Lipscombe Lab has deposited plasmids at Addgene for distribution to the research community. Addgene is a nonprofit plasmid repository dedicated to improving life science research.
Contact Information: Diane Lipscombe Lab Plasmids
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Diane Lipscombe
Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science, Director of the Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Science, Professor of Neuroscience
Human Neocortical Neurosolver
The Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN) is a new user-friendly software package for circuit level interpretation of human EEG/MEG data. The foundation of HNN is a computational neural model that simulates the electrical activity of the neocortical cells and circuits that generate the primary electrical currents underlying EEG/MEG recordings. HNN is a free open source package that was designed for researchers and clinicians, without computational neural modeling experience, to develop and test hypothesis on the circuit origin of their data. We provide tutorials on how to import your data and to begin to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. The tutorials focus on some of the most commonly measured signals, including event related potentials and low frequency alpha, beta and gamma rhythms. We are eager to help users get started and have developed a user forum for feedback and questions.
HNN is being developed by a collaborative team at Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Yale University. HNN developments are funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering through the BRAIN Initiative: Theories, Models, and Methods of Analysis of Complex Data from the Brain.
Contact Information: Human Neocortical Neurosolver
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Stephanie R. Jones
Professor of Neuroscience
NeuroNex Technology Hub
Bioluminescence for Optimal Brain Control and Imaging
Scientists at Brown, Central Michigan University and the University of California, San Diego are developing a new suite of tools for controlling and imaging cells using natural light, BioLuminescence. This approach has many advantages, including biocompatibility and a wide range of color and brightness choices.
Our new NeuroNex Hub cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation has two goals: Creating the best and brightest new tools, and making knowledge about the compelling natural phenomenon of BioLuminescence openly available. This ‘Open Science’ goal is both to support active horizontal dissemination of information amongst scientists, and vertical sharing across education levels and with the broader public.
The BioLuminescence Hub website contains information about the tools, upcoming workshops and other events.
Open Ephys
Open-source electrophysiology
Open Ephys is a resource curated by a team of neuroscientists who want to change the way tools are developed and shared. The laboratory of Chris Moore originally developed the flexDrive, a chronic drive implant for extracellular electrophysiology that can be used to individually position up to 16 microwire electrodes or electrode bundles in mice, with up to 64 channels.
We showcase and distribute tools for electrophysiology research that are open-source, thoroughly documented, and field-tested. We've had tremendous success using open-source tools for our own research, and we want to share the benefits with everyone. We also want to dispel the myth that tools built by researchers cannot be plug-and-play. We hate wasting time debugging as much as anyone, so we only promote tools that are easy to use and easy to maintain.