Bhattacharyya awarded NIH Grant to Explore Real-time Neural Decoding for Calcium Imaging

Professor Shuvra Bhattacharyya (ECE/UMIACS/MC2) and Assistant Professor Rong Chen of the University of Maryland Baltimore are principal investigators for a three-year, $696K grant from The National Institutes of Health’s Neurological Disorders and Stroke Division for “Real-time Neural Decoding for Calcium Imaging.”

The objective of this project is to develop a software platform, called RNDC-Lab (Real-time Neural Decoding for Cellular imaging Laboratory), that will provide integrated capabilities for design of and experimentation with novel real-time neural decoding systems for miniature cellular imaging. Real-time neural decoding centers on predicting behavior based on neural activity data at a pace that reliably keeps up with the behavior that is being monitored. Real-time neural decoding is a critical component of precise neuromodulation systems that are closed-loop and adjust neural stimulation parameters based on feedback from the neural decoding device. Such precise neuromodulation systems with closed-loop real-time feedback are personalized. They provide more effective treatments than fixed and open-loop neuromodulation systems. The RNDC-Lab platform that we are developing will offer unprecedented capability to jointly experiment with diverse models, methods and devices for real-time interrogation of circuit activity in behaving animals. The future application of RNDC-Lab includes testing the hypothesis that cocaine-taking leads to changed neural circuits in the dorsal striatum.

Published October 8, 2018