Meet our scientists and learn about our latest neuroscience research, open resources and career opportunities at the 2024 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting in San Diego, November 15–19, 2025.

Connect with our science and teams at talks, workshops, posters and Booth #2801.

The 2025 Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain is an intensive, project-based residential course with a focus on the neurobiology of sensory processing, coding, and neural population dynamics. This program is intended for researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral level with an interest in developing the intersection of their scientific knowledge and their computational skills.

Applications for 2025 will open by December 1, 2024.

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In this workshop, participants will gain in-depth exposure to the tools and techniques used by the Allen Institute to collect in vivo physiology data at scale. Lectures, demonstrations, and lab tours will cover all aspects of generating high-quality physiology datasets, from surgery to behavior training to neural recordings. Participants will also learn how to access data from the Allen Brain Observatory and about the OpenScope program.

Applications are now open and are due March 1, 2025.

About This Event

In this workshop, you will gain in-depth exposure to the tools and techniques used by the Allen Institute to collect in vivo physiology data at scale. The Allen Institute was a key contributor to the initial development of Neuropixels probes (along with researchers and engineers at HHMI Janelia Research Campus, University College London, and imec), which are quickly becoming the standard for extracellular electrophysiology recordings. The Institute has also pioneered rigs and protocols needed for high-throughput recordings from the mouse visual system and beyond, which are now accessible to the community via the BRAIN Initiative–funded OpenScope program.

In this workshop, participants from around the world will have the opportunity to tour our in vivo electrophysiology and imaging facilities and learn the details of these methods from Allen Institute and UW scientists and staff. Lectures and demonstrations will cover all aspects of generating high-quality physiology datasets, from surgery to behavior training to neural recordings. Participants will also learn how to access data from the Allen Brain ObservatoryYou can expect to come away from the workshop with a better understanding of proven techniques for improving the quality and throughput of recordings in your own lab.

Applications are now open and are due March 1, 2025. All applicants will be notified of a decision on their application by June 1. The workshop is geared towards graduate students, postdocs, staff scientists, and PIs with some experience with in vivo recordings.

The Neuropixels and OpenScope Workshop is being planned as an in-person event. We will not offer hybrid or remote participation at this workshop. We reserve the right to make changes to the event agenda or plans due to Covid. If conducting the workshop in person becomes impossible due to Covid-related safety concerns, it will be rescheduled to a later date.

There is no fee to participate in the workshop. Participants are responsible for their own travel costs.

This workshop is supported by the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24NS113646 (OpenScope Program), and by the National Science Foundation under Award 2142911 (Neuropixels – Steinmetz Lab ). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Neuropixels and OpenScope Workshop

Workshop tracks

The workshop will last 3 days. All participants will complete the Foundations of Neuropixels and introduction to the Allen Brain Observatory on July 9 – 10. A subset will continue to Advanced Neuropixels Techniques on July 11; space in the advanced training is more limited. The program includes in-lab demos and tours, presentations, and discussions. Topics are subject to change and additional topics may be added. See Workshop Tracks section below.

Foundations of Neuropixels and introduction to the Allen Brain Observatory – all participants (July 9 – 10):

• Days 1 and 2 will be held at the Allen Institute.
• Lectures and demonstrations on surgical techniques, mouse behavioral training, Neuropixels probe insertion and recording, Neuropixels data acquisition software.
• Roundtable discussions with Allen Institute and UW scientists.
• Introduction to the OpenScope program.

Advanced Neuropixels Techniques – advanced track participants only (July 11):

• Day 3 will be held at the Steinmetz Lab at the University of Washington.
• Lecture on chronic Neuropixels recording.
• Latest Neuropixels hardware developments: 2.0 Quad Base, NHP, Ultra, and Opto probes; OneBox recording system
• Lab demonstrations on multi-shank probes and combining Neuropixels with imaging.
• Hands-on demos of Phy and Pinpoint software
• Further discussions with Allen Institute and UW scientists.

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Learn about OpenScope project experimental designs from 2024 as we prepare to release the collected data sets to the community. During this webinar, we will also introduce the Databook, which supports data re-use within and between DANDI projects.

Join the Allen Institute and Circuit Neuroscience Basel for the Lake Conference in Seattle, Washington this October. This interactive and intimate conference will bring together leaders and top researchers in Comparative and Evolutionary Neurobiology for engaging presentations, discussions, and networking.

The 3.5 day forum will focus on discussing emerging technologies, topics, and views in the use of comparative and evolutionary strategies to understand human brain cellular and circuit function.

Applications are now closed.

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The scientific program will include about 30 talks by invited speakers, short talks selected from participant abstracts, and two poster sessions. The conference will address remarkable new technologies, resources, and tools for understanding conserved and species-specialized cellular and circuit makeup of the adult and developing brain across mammalian species.  Focused themes will explore comparative analyses of functional systems underlying motor control, language, visual and basal ganglia circuitry, and comparative genomics identifying conserved and human lineage-specific genomic changes that could impact brain circuit function and disease.

Application Details

We invite applicants at all career stages to apply to attend. In addition to speaker presentations, we will feature a number of short talks and posters from accepted applicants. Applications are now closed.

All applicants will be notified of the decision on their applications in July.

Registration Cost

The conference registration fee is $650 USD for a general ticket and $550 for students, to be paid only by accepted applicants after notification. Application is free. Registration includes:

• Three days of conference sessions
• Welcome reception (Sunday, 10/20) & evening event (Wednesday, 10/23)
• All meals during the conference

Please contact events@alleninstitute.org with questions.

Venue

The conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington hotel in Renton, WA. Located on the south shores of Lake Washington, the Hyatt Regency combines modern meeting spaces and guest rooms with unparalleled access to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

The hotel is a convenient 10 minutes from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and just 20 minutes from downtown Seattle. The hotel can be reached by public transport, taxis, sea plane and kayak!

Accepted applicants will receive additional travel and accommodation details in advance of the event.

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Meet our scientists and learn about our latest neuroscience research, open resources, and career opportunities at the 2024 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting in Chicago, IL.

Visit us at Booth #1301!

Founded by Adrienne Fairhall and Christof Koch, the Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain is co-hosted by the Allen Institute and the Computational Neuroscience Center at the University of Washington. It is directed by Drs. Michael A. Buice, Saskia de Vries, Adrienne Fairhall, Shawn Olsen, and Eric Shea-Brown.