Behaviour

DeepLabCut™ is an efficient method for 3D markerless pose estimation based on transfer learning with deep neural networks that achieves excellent results (i.e. you can match human labeling accuracy) with minimal training data (typically 50-200 frames).

Bonsai is a high-performance, easy to use, and flexible visual programming language for designing closed-loop neuroscience experiments combining physiology and behaviour data. Bonsai has allowed scientists with no previous programming experience to quickly develop their own experimental rigs and is also being increasingly used as a platform to integrate new open-source hardware and software from the experimental neuroscience community.

Ethoscopes are machines for high-throughput analysis of behavior in Drosophila and other animals. Ethoscopes provide a software and hardware solution that is reproducible and easily scalable. They perform, in real-time, tracking and profiling of behavior by using a supervised machine learning algorithm, are able to deliver behaviorally triggered stimuli to flies in a feedback-loop mode, and are highly customizable and open source.

BonVision is an open-source closed-loop visual environment generator developed by the Saleem Lab and Solomon Lab at the UCL Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience in collaboration with NeuroGEARS. BonVision’s key features include:

DeepLabStream is a python based multi-purpose tool that enables the realtime tracking of animals and manipulation of experiments. Our toolbox is adapted from the previously published DeepLabCut (Mathis et al., 2018) and expands on its core capabilities.

We describe the “FishCam”, a low-cost (500 USD) autonomous camera package to record videos and images underwater. The system is composed of easily accessible components and can be programmed to turn ON and OFF on customizable schedules.

Two-photon calcium imaging is now widely used to infer neuronal dynamics from changes in fluorescence of an indicator. However, state of the art computational tools are not optimized for the reliable detection of fluorescence transients from highly synchronous neurons located in densely packed regions such as the CA1 pyramidal layer of the hippocampus during early postnatal stages of development.

Syringe pumps are a necessary piece of laboratory equipment that are used for fluid delivery in behavioral neuroscience laboratories. Many experiments provide rodents and primates with fluid rewards such as juice, water, or liquid sucrose.

Operant conditioning (OC) is a classical paradigm and a standard technique used in experimental psychology in which animals learn to perform an action to achieve a reward. By using this paradigm, it is possible to extract learning curves and measure accurately reaction times (RTs).

Mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) to transmit socially-relevant information. To detect and classify these USVs, here we describe the development of VocalMat. VocalMat is a software that uses image-processing and differential geometry approaches to detect USVs in audio files, eliminating the need for user-defined parameter tuning.