Research Thrusts

Liam Paninski, OPS setup is depicted and related to real BCI

The cartoon above depicts the OPS: (a) Actual overt movements of the user are detected. (b) Synthetic neural activity is generated in some fashion derived from the overt movements. (c) The decoder sees only the simulated activity and provides a decoded estimate of the cursor position. (d) The cursor is placed on the screen along with the target permitting visual […]

Rafael Yuste, SLM Two-Photon Microscope and Multiplane Structural Imaging

Imaging the activity of large populations of neurons within the brain could be critical towards understanding the function of neuronal circuits. Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) microscopy is a simple holographic method that allows one to simultaneously image activity of neurons across large spatial areas or in multiple layers (L2/3 and L5) of the mouse cortex in vivo. This approach allows […]

Research Area IV: Computational Methods for Neuroscience

[rev_slider alias=”research-4″] From BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision Concurrent with the emergence of integrated optical approaches, it is essential to develop computational approaches for the analysis and management of the enormous data sets the optical techniques will yield (see also section 5). Calcium imaging studies in mice produce ~1 Gbits/sec of data; anatomical datasets will readily grow to the ~10 […]

Research Area III: Electrical Methods and Nanotechnology

[rev_slider alias=”research-3″] From BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision Optical engineering and photonics are rapidly progressing fields; ongoing advances in optical hardware and computational optics are likely to be highly pertinent to the BRAIN Initiative. Recent progress in miniaturized optics and CMOS image sensor chips for mobile phones has already yielded new capabilities for fluorescence imaging of neural activity in freely […]

Research Area II: Molecular and Chemical Probes for Neuroscience

[rev_slider alias=”research-2″] From BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision Report Chemistry and Molecular Technology: Optical Sensors of Neuronal Activity The ability to monitor activity in large numbers of neurons has been accelerated over the past two decades by using optical methods and tools from chemistry and genetics. Optical sensors, whether chemical or genetic, have the potential to report sub‐cellular dynamics in […]

Research Area I: Optical Methods for Neuroscience

[rev_slider alias=”research-1″] From BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision Integrated Optical Approaches: Neuroscience and Instrumentation Optical methods capture the central vision of the BRAIN Initiative, that of integrating many approaches into a single experiment. Optical methods can be multiplexed to combine activity monitoring, manipulation, circuit reconstruction, and characterization of a single cell’s morphology and molecular constituents (or at least a subset […]