Case Study: University College London studies visual cortex activity in virtual reality with National Instruments

Monitoring Activity in the Brain’s Visual Cortex in Virtual Reality Environments

The Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology at University College London faced the challenge of developing a system to record the activity of large populations of neurons in the visual cortex of mice as they actively interacted with their environment. They needed a fully integrated solution to control a high-speed two-photon microscope and a virtual reality setting while acquiring behavioural data.

Using National Instruments' LabVIEW software and NI DAQ hardware, including a FlexRIO FPGA module, the team created a flexible and integrated system. The solution from National Instruments allowed for the recording of neural activity with high temporal resolution in behaving animals, providing crucial insights into how the brain processes visual information during learning. This research advances the understanding of neurological disorders like schizophrenia and ADHD.

University College London

Jasper Poort

University College London