Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science
Research Toolbox
Carney scientists make discoveries – and help other scientists make discoveries. The tools that Carney researchers create – software to sensors, models to molecules – are used in thousands of science labs around the world, increasing the institute’s impact.
Research Toolbox
Carney scientists make discoveries – and help other scientists make discoveries. The tools that Carney researchers create – software to sensors, models to molecules – are used in thousands of science labs around the world, increasing the institute’s impact.
BioLuminescent OptoGenetics (BL-OG)
BL-OG is a suite of molecular tools developed by researchers at Brown, Central Michigan University and the University of San Diego. BL-OG tools use bioluminescent light to report cell activity and to control it through genetically encoded, light sensitive proteins.
Calcium Ion Channel cDNA Plasmids
These tools are DNA clones that scientists use to study different classes of voltage-gated ion channels, which regulate cell function by controlling the flow of calcium. These ion channels are implicated in many diseases, making them targets for new drugs.
Concept Recursive Activation FacTorization for Explainability (CRAFT)
CRAFT is an open-source method, accompanied by free Python software, that allows researchers to understand why and how deep neural networks classify objects, a capability that powers AI image recognition systems.
CRISPR Optimal Target Finder
CRISPR Optimal Target Finder is an open-source web software tool used to identify sites in the genomes of fruit flies, worms and other organisms and determine whether those bits of DNA would be good candidates for gene editing using CRISPR, a science tool sometimes called “molecular scissors.”
Genetically Modified Nematodes
Nematodes are tiny, living worms (as small as the period at the end of this sentence) modified by the gene-editing tool CRISPR to contain human mutations for four types of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, as well as Huntington’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.
Hierarchical Sequential Sampling Models (HSSM)
HSSM is an easy-to-use open-source software toolkit that brain scientists use to build and test computational models that can shed light on the biological functions and mental processes at work in people with mental illness.
Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN)
HNN is open-source software that allows brain scientists to develop and test predictions on how signals from electro- and magneto- encephalography (EEG/MEG) – the most common way to record human brain electrical activity without surgery – are generated in the brain.
LENS
LENS is a free, publicly-accessible interactive website that uses three state-of-the-art explainable AI tools – including CRAFT from the Serre lab – to show users what visual features large AI models use to decide what object they are looking at.
Open Ephys Acquisition Board
The Open Ephys Acquisition Board is a compact, USB-based device for gathering data from electrodes implanted in the brains of humans and a variety of animals.
Plasmids to Study Neurodegeneration
The Fawzi lab shares protein-expression plasmids – specially-designed circular pieces of DNA – that scientists can use to study the TDP-43 and FUS genes linked to neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
trans-Tango Toolkit
The trans-Tango toolkit is a suite of genetically encoded tools that allow scientists to study, label and manipulate neural circuits – networks of interconnected brain cells that process information and generate behavior.
Voltron and Voltron 2
Voltron and Voltron 2 are sensors made up of a specially engineered protein combined with a molecule of ultra-bright synthetic dye that together can measure – in real time – the voltage changes that occur when neurons communicate.