A High Throughput System for Multichannel Neurophysiology

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent technical developments have made simultaneously recording the activity of many neurons possible. These experiments show great promise in both basic and applied research, illustrating the dynamic interplay between large populations of neurons as well as the potential for neuroprosthetic control of artificial limbs or restoring sensory input. To support this research, we will develop a very high throughput system for multichannel neurophysiology based on our existing System 3 hardware and software. This new design will utilize the best advantages of our existing system design and eliminate current bottlenecks. Our ultimate goals for this project are: (1) to streamline data acquisition by producing a dedicated system designed to process and record many channels of neurophysiological data, controlled and analyzed by a single monitor PC, and (2) to minimize post-hoc analysis of these very large data sets by allowing for efficient real-time signal conditioning, spike sorting, data display, and analysis on a novel new dedicated digital signal processing (DSP) platform. The high throughput data acquisition platform proposed here is designed to support and extend high-count multichannel investigations. Our DSP architecture is very well suited for this processing and as a foundation to the system we propose here, will serve as an enabling technology for acquiring and pre-processing large numbers of derived data sets from complex or high channel count neurophysiology recording systems. The successful delivery of a high throughput system for neurophysiology will increase data yield, speed analysis, reduce animal use, and allow fundamental questions about simultaneous neural activity and functional connectivity to be addressed.