A Commercial Platform for High-Volume Behavior and Electrophysiology Research

PROJECT SUMMARY Inter-subject variability in brain activity and behavior is currently difficult to study and/or overcome during statistical analysis, especially for studies of complex cognitive functions. Larger cohorts of animals are often needed per study, but the available tools used to record spiking activity from large ensembles of neurons as animals are performing standardized behaviors require intense human labor and attention, limiting their applicability for high- throughput applications. A new type of research tool will be developed and commercialized that is specialized for high-throughput detailed neural measurements in freely behaving rats. We will develop an automated apparatus that can be used in the animals’ own home cage environments. The system will administer user-defined operant behavioral protocols and simultaneously record spiking activity from hundreds of electrodes using miniature datalogging technology. The battery-powered loggers will charge wirelessly using cutting-edge technology that can sustain high power transfer over the majority of the volume in the cage. All parts of the system, including the neural recorders, will operate automatically and continuously, reducing the amount of human labor required to run large-cohort studies.