Open Ephys

Mentors: Student: Ananya B

<p>Many users of Open Ephys are using optogenetic tools to manipulate activity in genetically defined neural circuits, but there is currently no way to control these tools from the Open Ephys GUI. <a href="http://www.open-ephys.org/cyclops/" target="_blank">Cyclops</a> is a high-precision LED driver designed for precise optogenetic stimulation. Setting up a controlled closed-loop experiments, <em>where neurons can be stimulated based on real-time acquired neural data</em>, would be greatly simplified if a plugin to communicate with Cyclops is built into the GUI.</p> <p>A typical scenario would be to upload or stream waveforms to Cyclops and trigger their deployment <em>(or transformations)</em> based on events detected in GUI. An <strong>open communication protocol</strong> needs to be defined for this and also <strong>special programable processors</strong> that can generate feedback signals and control Cyclops <em>(via the protocol)</em>.<br> After configuring the processors in the pipeline, the GUI would program Cyclops and the experiment can be launched.</p> <p>In addition to this, a more powerful and upgraded Cyclops that uses a <a href="http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/" target="_blank">Teensy</a> board will be released. Cyclops and Open Ephys would still support the Arduino version though.</p>

Mentors: Student: septen

<p>Many scientists around the world use Open Ephys software for acquiring data during neuroscience experiments. The Open Ephys GUI was designed around a modular plugin architecture, which allows users to create their own plugins to handle specific use cases which are not included in the main application. However, most neuroscientsts do not have the C++ programming skills needed to write plugins from scratch. Having a simple GUI that can auto-generate a code template would lower the barrier to creating new plugins and encourage more scientists to make their own contributions to Open Ephys.</p>