The award supports planning and initial development of a database and associated tools for developing a database of identified neurons for molluscs. The database will serve two communities of neurobiologists. For molluscan neuroscientists, the goal is a database containing descriptions of identified and identifiable neurons, actual datasets of neurophysiological data from both identified cells and candidates for neuronal identification, and model parameters useful for electrophysiological simulations of neurons and networks. For the wider community of neurophysiologists, the goal is a generalizable set of annotated data structures for storage, classification, query, and distribution of neurophysiological data from many species and techniques. An ancillary goal for both communities is the development of user-friendly graphical tools for data entry and viewing and database query. Project development is headed by a molluscan neurobiologist with extensive software development experience, coordinated with an academic multiplatform software developer with significant research experience in identified neurons. All phases of the project will be coordinated with user feedback from a broad representation of the molluscan community, as well as from neurophysiologists using other invertebrate and mammalian species. To further serve the neuroscience communities, database access, as well as user tools and data type specifications developed by the project, will be provided freely.
