Plexon/JoVE Publication Grant Contest focused on research performed using the industry leading PlexBright^® Optogenetic Stimulation System closes on May 31, 2014 at 11:59 p.m., Central time.

Previous winner, Jonathan Ho of Rebecca D. Burwell’s Behavioral Neuroscience of Memory and Attention Lab at Brown University, shares his perspective regarding the contest and winning:

“What I took away the most from this experience was that Plexon is genuinely interested in our research and wants to provide us with the best platform to carry out our work. I now consider Plexon as an important partner in our research rather than simply a company supplying our equipment. Winning Plexon’s contest gave us the fantastic opportunity to showcase our research and experimental protocols using Plexon’s products to a wide audience through JoVE’s unique publication media.

The partnership between Rebecca Burwell’s lab and Plexon has no doubt been strengthened from this positive experience, as have individual professional relationships, which will undoubtedly be an advantage in future endeavours. Our partnership enables us to have an open dialogue with Plexon to suggest improvements and developments to their already excellent products that would suit our ongoing research needs. More importantly, strong partnerships like this result in continual innovation in both research and technical means to tackle the infinite questions neuroscience poses.”

Plexon truly values the experience with Dr. Burwell’s lab, whose article titled “Automated Visual Cognitive Tasks for Recording Neural Activity Using a Floor Projection Maze” has now reached nearly 1,400 views from approximately 30 countries, and looks forward to being a catalyst in launching another innovative research group into the international spotlight.

For more information, the Official Rules or to download the application, visit https://plexon.com/plexonjove-promotions.

NeuroExplorer^® v5 Available June 30

Plexon announces the much anticipated launch of NeuroExplorer^® version 5.0 in less than five weeks! NeuroExplorer is a neurophysiological data analysis package that supports sophisticated analyses and generates professional presentation of the results. It is the undisputed industry gold standard in data analysis programs cited by more than 1,700 scientific publications.

Version 5 is a truly significant expansion of functionality over the previous version – seven years in the making! Some of the most significant advances include:

• Vastly improved spectral analyses of spike trains and continuous channels including single taper and multi-taper calculations of spectra, six available windowing functions, three preprocessing options, jackknife confidence, the ability to replicate MATLAB^® spectral calculations, up to 10 times faster calculation of spectral results, and more.
• New analyses of continuous data (LFP) such as perievent rasters, power spectra, coherence, single trial spectrum analysis, and phase analysis using Hilbert Transform.
• New digital filtering options for continuous data including seven new IIR and FIR filters.
• New spike train analyses featuring firing rate versus head direction, and single trial rate estimation via adaptive kernels.
• New statistical tests (T-tests, Wilcoxon tests and ANOVA) can compare results across conditions that can be implemented via integration with R-script. New statistical tests can be also be added by users by writing R-scripts.
• Immediate preview of data when a data file is loaded.
• New 64-bit build enabling NeuroExplorer v5 to load and analyze multi-gigabyte data files, and display hundreds of millions of rows.
• Supporting the new .NEX5 data file format that is more flexible than the previous .NEX format such that it allows saving files greater than 2GB in size, and saves unlimited metadata for the whole file and for every file variable in JSON format.
• Enhanced ability to save and restore results such that it saves all numerical and graphical results in a series of linked files, and a user can open results files without recalculation, as well as replicate results.
• More efficient processing as computationally demanding analyses are run in parallel using all CPU cores.
• Localized language such that any language can be used in file names, file comments and variable names.

For a quote with NeuroExplorer v5 single or three-seat licensing packages, or for upgrades from any prior version of NeuroExplorer, contact info@plexon.com.

Plexon – the Lead Sponsor of the NIC

Plexon is thrilled to have an opportunity to demonstrate its strong support as the only Platinum+ sponsor for the 41^st Neural Interfaces Conference to be held in its home city of Dallas, Texas, USA in collaboration with the Texas Biomedical Device Center and the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). We are especially pleased to partner with Robert Rennaker, PhD of UTD as the Conference Chair and Joe Pancrazio, PhD of George Mason University as the Steering Committee Chair to host an anticipated crowd of 400 scientists.

As the lead sponsor, Plexon will also sponsor the Tuesday evening dinner at the acclaimed Perot Museum of Nature and Science beginning at 7:30 p.m. – an event not to miss! The museum opened its doors December 1, 2012 and welcomed its millionth visitor just eight months later.

Attendees are invited to Plexon’s island booth to be amongst the first to see the PRE-LAUNCH OmniPlex^® D2 Neural Data Acquisition System platform for use with Plexon’s new digital headstages. Researchers will also have an opportunity to work with the PlexBright Optogenetic Stimulation System, the CinePlex Behavioral Research System, the industry-standard Offline Sorter™ Software, and even have an advanced peak into the new NeuroExplorer v5 to be launched June 30th.

Workshop Registration Raffle at NIC

Due to popular demand, Plexon will once again host a Workshop Raffle – this time at the NIC. We will raffle off a FREE REGISTRATION to the very popular, intense, multi-day, hands-on 2015 Annual Neurophysiology and Behavioral Research Workshop in which the winner will receive a full registration valued at $900.00. Earlier this year, the attendees rated the 2014 event an outstanding 9.5/10!

Checkout the green sidebar to see what Yuichi Makino, PhD from the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology at Harvard University had to say about his experience at the Plexon Workshop.

Raffle contestants are invited to enter once during the opening hours of the 41st NIC at the Plexon booth. Contestants can be any researchers in attendance that are not distributors for, employees of, or in any way agents of Plexon Inc. Upon the close of the exhibition, the winner’s name will be drawn and he/she will contacted shortly thereafter.

Contact crystal@plexon.com with any questions. Good luck to all raffle contestants!

Did you know . . . How to Upgrade Plexon License Keys?

A number of software products offered by Plexon require a license key for full operation, such as Offline Sorter or NeuroExplorer. New software releases within a version (such as v3.1 to v3.2) are available free of charge and can simply be downloaded from the Plexon website. These minor releases do not have an impact on the license key.

However, when incrementing from one software version to the next (such as v3 to v4), the license key itself must be upgraded. License keys are upgraded using a proprietary program called PlexLicTool and special key serial number-specific codes generated by Plexon. It is important to note that not all Plexon license keys can be remotely upgraded. Only the black, USB keys are upgradeable, while all others will need to be exchanged.

The process to upgrade your black, USB license key is as follows:

1) Identify the serial number for each license key needing to be upgraded (found on the license key label or electronically read from key using PlexLicTool),
2) Email info@plexon.com with the serial numbers, the name of your institution, first and last name of the Principal Investigator, and request a quote for the specific software upgrades desired,
3) Make the purchase with a PO or via credit card,
4) Download the most current version of PlexLicTool (Plexon License Key Upgrade Package) from /software-downloads under the Utilities Header.

When Plexon responds with the upgrade codes, plug the first license key into a computer and launch PlexLicTool. A window will appear populated with information specific to your key on top and displaying four open fields at the bottom (if not, contact support@plexon.com). Enter the four license key-specific codes provided by Plexon in the corresponding fields numbered one through four. Click Enter Code to accept, then click OK, then click Done when prompted. The license key was successfully upgraded. Repeat for each key you wish to upgrade.

Research Spotlight

Let us know about your 2014 publication citing Plexon and our equipment and we will send you a thank you award with a mug and a T-shirt! Send notices, address and T-shirt size to publications@plexon.com.

All articles listed are alphabetical based on first author within two categories: articles published online in electronic-only journals or ahead of print, and articles published in full print.

Recent articles published online in electronic-only journals or ahead of print:

• Allen, Timothy A., Andrea M. Morris, Aaron T. Mattfeld, Craig EL Stark, and Norbert J. Fortin. “A Sequence of Events Model of Episodic Memory Shows Parallels in Rats and Humans.” Hippocampus (2014).
• Cui, Guohong, Sang Beom Jun, Xin Jin, Guoxiang Luo, Michael D. Pham, David M. Lovinger, Steven S. Vogel, and Rui M. Costa. “Deep brain optical measurements of cell type–specific neural activity in behaving mice.” Nature protocols 9, no. 6 (2014): 1213-1228.
• Gowda, Suraj, A. Orsborn, S. Overduin, H. Moorman, and J. Carmena. “Designing dynamical properties of brain-machine interfaces to optimize task-specific performance.” IEEExplore Digital Library (2014): 1-1.
• Hackett, Troy A., A. Lisa, Corrie R. Camalier, Arnaud Falchier, Peter Lakatos, Yoshinao Kajikawa, and Charles E. Schroeder. “Feedforward and feedback projections of caudal belt and parabelt areas of auditory cortex: refining the hierarchical model.” Frontiers in Neuroscience 8:72 ecollection (2014).
• Hei, Xiaojuan, Carl R. Stoelzel, Jun Zhuang, Yulia Bereshpolova, Joseph M. Huff, Jose-Manuel Alonso, and Harvey A. Swadlow. “Directional selective neurons in the awake LGN: Response properties and modulation by brain state.” Journal of Neurophysiology (2014).
• Ilango, Anton, Andrew J. Kesner, Carl J. Broker, Dong V. Wang, and Satoshi Ikemoto. “Phasic excitation of ventral tegmental dopamine neurons potentiates the initiation of conditioned approach behavior: parametric and reinforcement-schedule analyses.” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 8 (2014): 155.
• Morin, Elyse L., Fadila Hadj-Bouziane, Mark Stokes, Leslie G. Ungerleider, and Andrew H. Bell. “Hierarchical Encoding of Social Cues in Primate Inferior Temporal Cortex.” Cerebral Cortex (2014).
• McMahon, David BT, Adam P. Jones, Igor V. Bondar, and David A. Leopold. “Face-selective neurons maintain consistent visual responses across months.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014).
• Pan, XiaoChuan, HongWei Fan, RuBin Wang, and Masamichi Sakagami. “Contributions of distinct prefrontal neuron classes in reward processing.” Science China Technological Sciences (2014): 1-12.
• Paniz, L. G., M. E. Calcagnotto, P. Pandolfo, D. G. Machado, G. F. Santos, G. Hansel, R. F. Almeida et al. “Neuroprotective effects of guanosine administration on behavioral, brain activity, neurochemical and redox parameters in a rat model of chronic hepatic encephalopathy.” Metabolic Brain Disease (2014): 1-10.
• Puig, M. Victoria, and Earl K. Miller. “Neural Substrates of Dopamine D2 Receptor Modulated Executive Functions in the Monkey Prefrontal Cortex.” Cerebral Cortex (2014).
• Schwarz, David A., Mikhail A. Lebedev, Timothy L. Hanson, Dragan F. Dimitrov, Gary Lehew, Jim Meloy, Sankaranarayani Rajangam et al. “Chronic, wireless recordings of large-scale brain activity in freely moving rhesus monkeys.” Nature Methods (2014).
• Sharma, Jitendra, Hiroki Sugihara, Yarden Katz, James Schummers, Joshua Tenenbaum, and Mriganka Sur. “Spatial Attention and Temporal Expectation Under Timed Uncertainty Predictably Modulate Neuronal Responses in Monkey V1.” Cerebral Cortex (2014).
• Tanaka, Hiroki, Hiroshi Tamura, and Izumi Ohzawa. “Spatial range and laminar structures of neuronal correlations in the cat primary visual cortex.” Journal of Neurophysiology (2014).
• Wolff, Steffen BE, Jan Gründemann, Philip Tovote, Sabine Krabbe, Gilad A. Jacobson, Christian Müller, Cyril Herry et al. “Amygdala interneuron subtypes control fear learning through disinhibition.” Nature (2014).
• Umeda, Tatsuya, Hidenori Watanabe, Masa-aki Sato, Mitsuo Kawato, Tadashi Isa, and Yukio Nishimura. “Decoding of the spike timing of primary afferents during voluntary arm movements in monkeys.” Frontiers in Neuroscience 8 (2014): 97.
• Wang, Dong, Qiaosheng Zhang, Yue Li, Yiwen Wang, Junming Zhu, Shaomin Zhang, and Xiaoxiang Zheng. “Long-term decoding stability of local field potentials from silicon arrays in primate motor cortex during a 2D center out task.” Journal of Neural Engineering 11, no. 3 (2014).

Recent articles published in full print:

• Coudé, G., R. E. Vanderwert, S. Thorpe, F. Festante, M. Bimbi, N. A. Fox, and P. F. Ferrari. “Frequency and topography in monkey electroencephalogram during action observation: possible neural correlates of the mirror neuron system.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 369, no. 1644 (2014): 20130415.
• Rosenbaum, Robert, Andrew Zimnik, Fang Zheng, Robert S. Turner, Christian Alzheimer, Brent Doiron, and Jonathan E. Rubin. ” Axonal and synaptic failure suppress the transfer of firing rate oscillations, synchrony and information during high frequency deep brain stimulation.” Neurobiology of Disease 62 (2014): 86-99.
• Saldeitis, Katja, Max FK Happel, Frank W. Ohl, Henning Scheich, and Eike Budinger. “Anatomy of the auditory thalamocortical system in the Mongolian gerbil: Nuclear origins and cortical field‐, layer‐, and frequency‐specificities.” Journal of Comparative Neurology (2014) 2397–2430.
• Sharott, Andrew, Alessandro Gulberti, Simone Zittel, Adam A. Tudor Jones, Ulrich Fickel, Alexander Münchau, Johannes A. Köppen et al. “Activity Parameters of Subthalamic Nucleus Neurons Selectively Predict Motor Symptom Severity in Parkinson’s Disease.” The Journal of Neuroscience 34, no. 18 (2014): 6273-6285.

“I just joined a lab that uses a couple of Plexon recording setups. I had absolutely no experience in using the Plexon system before joining the lab, so I had to struggle for figuring out how the entire system works. I could get a tremendous help from the Plexon workshop because there I could learn every detail of the Plexon system – what each part of the hardware means, how they are assembled to work together, how to use each function of the software and for what kind of purpose, etc. – on a very very hands-on style. Now I am back to the lab and am much more comfortable about using our system. I would definitely recommend this workshop to anyone who uses the Plexon system, but particularly to the people who are new to it.”

Yuichi Makino, PhD
Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University

Register for 2014 China Workshop

July 22-24, 2014 at the East China Normal University in Shanghai. Contact jerry@plexon.com.hk for more information or to register.

Office Closures

In honor of Independence Day, Plexon World Headquarters will be closed Friday, July 4 and will reopen for business on Monday at our standard business time. See annual office holidays for the US and European offices for additional closures throughout the year.

Upcoming Events

• 41st Neural Interfaces Conference, June 23-25; Dallas, Texas, USA
• 9th Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum of Neuroscience, July 05–09; Milan, Italy