Database for the Analysis of Neuronal Structure and Function

该奖项将支持开发先进的软件工具，用于建立包含有关已识别神经元的结构和动态功能属性信息的数据库，以及开发先进的软件工具，用于查询该数据库以获取有关神经元集合的全球功能组织的信息。使用这些工具开发的数据库的可视化格式将是多维的“地图集”，它保存了神经系统中所有对象之间的空间关系。这些项目将由加州大学伯克利分校和圣地亚哥分校的一组神经生物学家和计算机科学家共同完成。主要的具体目标是开发一个通用数据库引擎，能够表示有关对象的功能相关神经元属性的信息（例如其生化，生物物理，遗传和发育特征）；神经结构在多个分辨率尺度上的三维解剖参数；这些对象的功能特征决定了它们各自的“输入/输出”属性；神经元对象之间的功能关系决定了它们的动态相互作用；开发先进的软件工具，将解剖、功能和关系信息插入数据库，开发先进的查询工具，检索和分析数据。

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.