Database for the Analysis of Neuronal Structure and Function

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This award will support the development advanced software tools for establishing a database containing information about the structural and dynamic functional attributes of identified neurons, and the development of advanced software tools for querying that database for information about the global functional organization of neuronal ensembles. The visual format of the databases developed with these tools will be multidimensional "atlases", which preserve the spatial relationships between all objects within the nervous systems. These project will be carried out as a collaborative effort between a group of neurobiologists and computer scientists at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California. The major specific aims are to develop a general database engine capable of representing information about the functionally relevant neuronal attributes of the objects (such as their biochemical, biophysical, genetic and developmental characteristics); the 3D anatomical parameters of neural structures across multiple resolution scales; the functional characteristics of these objects which determine their individual "input/output" properties; and the functional relations between neuronal objects which determine their dynamic interactions; to develop advanced software tools for inserting the anatomical, functional and relational information into the database and to develop advanced query tools for retrieving and analyzing the data.