Project Description
This is the home page for the MRCI Project.
The objective of this project is to provide a new version of the dynamic clamp
technique (Sharp et al., 1993) that is:
- open-source
- high-speed (our platform supports speeds up to 50 kHz)
- fully featured (real-time parameter changes, data logging of state variables,
protocol extensibility)
MRCI stands for Model Reference Current Injection.
The basic idea behind this technique is to simulate ionic currents in real-time,
which can be used to:
- artificially insert ion channels into a neuron
- connect in vitro neurons with simulated synapses
- connect simulated neurons to in vitro neurons
Our open-source high-speed approach
is possible because we use Real-Time
Linux (RTL) as our host operating system. RTL is a modification to the Linux operating system that allows for real-time processes with extremely
low latency.
This project exists because although
our technology works, the current version of our software requires a high degree
of Linux-savvy and software expertise to get this up and running. The
ultimate goal is to make this software easy to use by any electrophysiologist.
By the end of this 3 year project, besides achieving the technological objectives
of this project, we hope to have a freely-distributable and modifiable package
that:
- is open-source and modifiable
- supports a wide range of data acquisition boards (this will ultimately be accomplished
using COMEDI)
- is easy to install (the final version will be a modified Linux CD or will fit
entirely on a floppy)
- is easy to operate
- allows the user to specify arbitrary models of their choosing
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by a grant
from the National Science Foundation
and equipment funds from the School
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Geogia Tech, Atlanta, GA.
We test this system via both collaborating labs as well as ongoing research
within our lab supported by the James S. McDonnell
Foundation.
The
PI (Robert Butera)
initially developed this software while working in the Laboratory of Neural Control,
NINDS, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD. This work is being developed
in the Laboratory for
Neuroengineering at Georgia
Tech.
The MRCI system description translator is derived from the Gnans translator, written by
Bengt Martensson of the Institute for
Dynamical Systems.
MRCI includes the MCA2 real-time Linux math library, created by Stephen
L. Moshier, Tobias Luksch.