Incorporating digital fabrication technology in the design of head-fixed mouse recording neurons in multiple brain regions.

About: I have been working at the University of Chicago for the last four years, in the neuroscience lab headed by Jason MacLean. Here, I investigated the changes in neuronal sensory representation in the cortex which improved our understanding of how tactile stimuli are represented, how stable they are over time, and how experience-dependent plasticity changes this network. The work often requires precise, specialized tools, many of which I design myself. For example, I developed an in-home device for semi-automated and voluntary behavioral recording of awake-behaving animals paired with optical neural recordings. This device uses custom-written scripts (C++) to orchestrate sensors, motors, behavioral and neuronal data collection. It provides a flexible platform for a variety of experimental tasks and for animals to self-initiate natural behavior. This device is efficient, reliable, customized, and ergonomic. The consistency of the device offers the possibility to analyze 3D markerless pose estimation of body parts based on transfer learning with deep neural networks (MATLAB, Python) over the course of multiple months.

Keywords: Sensorimotor cortex – Neuronal population recording – Memory – 3D printing – Formalab – Ultimaker – Computer Assisted Design – Robotics.