CRCNS Data Sharing: Exchange and Evaluation of Reduced Neuron Modles

CRCNS数据共享：简化神经元模型的交换和评估

• 批准号: 9052452
• 负责人: Richard C Gerkin
• 金额: $ 12.84万
• 依托单位: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-30 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9052452
• 关键词: Address; Agreement; Behavior; Biological; Biological Process; Biology; Brain; Code; Collaborations; Complement; Complex; Computer Analysis; Computer Simulation; Data; Data Set; Data Sources; Entropy; Environment; Equation; Evaluation; Functional disorder; Grouping; Hand; Imagery; Information Dissemination; Intuition; Language; Literature; Manuscripts; Measures; Membrane Potentials; Modeling; Neurons; Neurosciences; Online Systems; Performance; Physiological; Physiology; Procedures; Process; Publications; Publishing; Reproducibility; Research; Research Personnel; Running; Source; Specific qualifier value; Speed; Stimulus; Students; Targeted Research; Test Result; Testing; Textbooks; Time; Validation; Work; abstracting; adjudicate; computer program; data modeling; data sharing; information model; insight; interest; journal article; models and simulation; novel; operation; programs; research study; response; simulation; software development; text searching; tool; uptake; web interface

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Theoretical neuroscientists use neuron models to predict, understand, and explain biological neuron behavior. They often work with "reduced" neuron models that abstract away biological details but capture essential neuronal dynamics. This choice facilitates mathematical tractability, conceptual analysis, and computational speed. However, the tradeoffs inherent in using such models (instead of biologically detailed ones) are not transparent. It is often unclear if a model is faithful to essential observed dynamics of the neuron, and if so, under what model parameters and stimulus conditions. It is also rare for multiple types of reduced models to be compared in this regard, making it difficult to select the most appropriate one for a scientific question. Lastly, such models, once developed and parameterized, usually are not shared among researchers in a form that facilitates reproducibility and re-use, nor can they be easily discovered. As a result, status quo behavior in the use of reduced models is often simply to choose a "favorite" model regardless of merit, to optimize it for the scientific question at hand, and then to discard it. A standard practice in professional software development is unit testing. A unit test is a procedure that validates a single component of a computer program against a single correctness criterion. An ongoing effort to develop an analogous unit-testing procedure for neuron models, NeuronUnit, enables the construction of validation tests-executable functions that validate models against a single empirical observation to produce a score indicating agreement between the model and an observation. NeuronUnit facilitates the construction and logical grouping of tests for neuron models, the parameterization of tests using a wide range of empirical data, and the execution of tests against models in a continuous and transparent fashion. Aggregate results provide both theoretical and experimental neuroscientists with an overview of model suitability for targeted research questions. Merits and deficiencies of competing models are clearly visible, benefiting ongoing modeling efforts and informing new theoretical and experimental directions. This proposal aims to expand NeuronUnit to create data-driven, neuron-type-specific validation tests for reduced models. The ability of a range of reduced models to capture the relevant membrane potential and spiking dynamics of specific biological neuron types in response to specific stimuli, using publicly available experimental data from numerous sources, will be quantitatively tested and visualized. In doing so, the merits and deficiencies of each reduced model-as well as tradeoffs in model complexity, speed, and analysis-become transparent, providing critical information for model choice. Project aims are to 1) express a large number of reduced models using NeuroML/LEMS, 2) implement NeuronUnit testing of these models against data from a wide range of neuron- and experiment-types, 3) provide web-based search and visualization for test results and corresponding simulations, and 4) make these models available both as NeuroML documents and as code for every NeuroML-supported simulator. Collaborations with multiple existing initiatives will promote uptake of these tools, which for the first time, will provide a rigorous, transparent process for evaluation and selection of reduced models to address scientific questions about neurons. This project goes beyond model sharing by facilitating the dissemination of information about the performance and applicability of reduced neuron models in the context of specific datasets, complementing the existing dissemination mode of manuscript publication. By making model choice more deliberate and model appropriateness more objective, this work highlights which models should be used to address which scientific questions and why, without the need for a deep literature search (for models and data) or the installation of new tools or re-coding of models for simulation. The project also serves neuroscience educators by providing an interactive platform for visualization of reduced model dynamics accessible to any student, using data from biological neurons. This work broadly transforms theoretical neuroscience: by giving modelers a tool to select models quickly and with clear purpose; by rigorously identifying the models best-suited for further research efforts; and by helping experimentalists enhance the impact of their work.

 描述（由申请人提供）：理论神经科学家使用神经元模型来预测、理解和解释生物神经元行为。他们经常使用“简化的”神经元模型，抽象出生物细节，但捕获基本的神经元动态。这种选择有利于数学的易处理性、概念分析和计算速度。然而，使用此类模型（而不是生物学详细模型）所固有的权衡并不透明。通常不清楚模型是否忠实于观察到的神经元的基本动态，如果是，则在什么模型参数和刺激条件下。在这方面对多种类型的简化模型进行比较也很少见，因此很难为科学问题选择最合适的模型。最后，此类模型一旦开发并参数化，通常不会以促进可重复性和重用的形式在研究人员之间共享，也不容易被发现。因此，使用简化模型的现状行为通常只是简单地选择一个“最喜欢的”模型，无论其优点如何，针对当前的科学问题对其进行优化，然后将其丢弃。 专业软件开发的标准实践是单元测试。单元测试是根据单个正确性标准验证计算机程序的单个组件的过程。正在努力开发神经元模型的类似单元测试程序 NeuronUnit，它能够构建验证测试可执行函数，根据单个经验观察来验证模型，以生成表明模型与观察之间的一致性的分数。 NeuronUnit 有助于神经元模型测试的构建和逻辑分组、使用广泛经验数据的测试参数化以及以连续和透明的方式执行模型测试。汇总结果为理论和实验神经科学家提供了针对目标研究问题的模型适用性的概述。竞争模型的优点和不足显而易见，有利于正在进行的建模工作，并为新的理论和实验方向提供信息。 该提案旨在扩展 NeuronUnit 来为简化模型创建数据驱动的、特定于神经元类型的验证测试。将使用来自众多来源的公开实验数据，对一系列简化模型捕获特定生物神经元类型响应特定刺激的相关膜电位和尖峰动力学的能力进行定量测试和可视化。通过这样做，每个简化模型的优点和缺点以及模型复杂性、速度和分析的权衡变得透明，为模型选择提供关键信息。 项目目标是 1) 使用 NeuroML/LEMS 表达大量简化模型，2) 根据来自各种神经元和实验类型的数据对这些模型进行 NeuronUnit 测试，3) 为测试结果和相应的模拟提供基于 Web 的搜索和可视化，4) 使这些模型既可用作 NeuroML 文档，也可用作每个 NeuroML 支持的模拟器的代码。与多个现有计划的合作将促进这些工具的采用，这将首次为评估和选择简化模型以解决有关神经元的科学问题提供严格、透明的过程。 该项目超越了模型共享，通过促进有关特定数据集背景下简化神经元模型的性能和适用性的信息传播，补充了手稿出版的现有传播模式。通过使模型选择更加慎重，模型的适用性更加客观，这项工作强调了应该使用哪些模型来解决哪些科学问题以及原因，而无需进行深入的文献搜索（模型和数据）或安装新工具或重新编码模型以进行模拟。该项目还通过提供一个交互式平台来为神经科学教育工作者提供服务，该平台可以使用来自生物神经元的数据来可视化任何学生都可以访问的简化模型动态。这项工作广泛地改变了理论神经科学：为建模者提供了快速且目标明确地选择模型的工具；通过严格识别最适合进一步研究工作的模型；并帮助实验者增强他们工作的影响力。