IDEA Core Mission

 

The Innovation and Design for Experimentation and Analysis Core specializes in the design and implementation of large-scale, integrated systems for acquiring and analyzing neuroscience data. If you have an idea for an experiment, but the ideal apparatus is not available commercially, then the IDEA core is here to help.

What We Offer

• Modifying an existing apparatus or data analysis pipeline

• Replicating a previously published apparatus

• Design, assemble, and deliver a novel apparatus

• Consultation or assistance analyzing data

Past Projects

CLARA: Closed-loop Automated Reaching Apparatus

“Our lab needs a device that automatically places a food pellet on a post, records mice reaching for the food, and tracks the hand in 3D for closed-loop stimulation upon successful retrieval of the food.”

- Cristin Welle

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Head-fixed Mouse Panorama

“While a head-mixed mouse runs on a wheel, we need to deliver customizable visual stimuli on a panoramic screen while recording the pupils of both eyes of the mouse.”

- Alon Poleg-Polsky and Gidon Felsen

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Radial Positioned Water Reward

“Our lab needs to automate an experiment where a water reward is delivered at various locations along a radius surrounding a head-fixed mouse from -90° to +90° from center.”

- Diego Restrepo and Abby Person

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DeepLabClinic

In cooperation with the ONE core

“We need a mobile device for use in the neurology clinic that can acquire three-dimensional video of patients performing a hand-motion task with the assistance of a physician. For HIPPA compliance, the computer must be controlled without the use of a mouse, keyboard, or monitor.”

- John Thompson and Dylan Calame

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CMAP: Compound Muscle Action Potential

“Our lab needs to perform electrophysiological recordings of stimulated rat sciatic nerves, but we have never done this in the lab, and we do not have any of the required equipment.”

- An-Jey Su

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Foot-shock Paired with Odor Presentation

“A published apparatus would be ideal for increasing certain olfactory sensory neuron subtypes, and we have a few parts on hand, but we need help with construction and hardware management.”

- Stephen Santoro

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Custom data acquisition and analysis software

 

Custom software written by the IDEA core can be adapted to suit the needs of an individual lab. The example below shows a graphical user interface which manages the camera data acquisition and also communicates with an Arduino that manages peripheral hardware such as stepper motors, servos, lights, etc.

 

twoCamSoftwareGrab

 

 

The IDEA core is also able to assist with object tracking and other types of analysis, ultimately packaging the results in MATLAB, Python, or generic data structures. The example below is a graphical user interface that is used to curate and analyze data acuired by the CLARA system implemented in the Welle lab.

 

curator_fig_v1