Mind Your Data with Neurodatabase.org

Courtesy of http://Neurodatabase.org

Compared to gene and protein data, which involve relatively simple sequences, the diverse nature of data characterizing brain activity is, well, mind-boggling. Data can range from functional magnetic resonance images of brain structures to action potentials. According to the Society for Neuroscience, more than 70 neuroinformatics databases and tools are in development right now; but most of them gather imaging, rather than action potential, data. A select few, however, gather neurophysiological data about intercellular interactions; one of those is http://Neurodatabase.org.

"The overall goal of http://Neurodatabase.org is to ... have recordings from cells in networks [so that we can] try to understand something about how neurophysiology is correlated with behavior, learning, sensation, and action," says lead database developer Daniel Gardner, professor of physiology and neuroscience and director of the Laboratory of Neuroinformatics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Gardner recently described Neurodatabase. org in an issue ...