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Welcome to the RodentJoystick wiki! This wiki contains hardware and software documentation for the joystick project at Cornell University's Goldberg Lab.

We are interested in the neural basis for learning and execution of goal-directed movement. However, mammalian motor systems are complex and distributed, making it difficult to dissect the roles of specific elements. To address this, we designed a forelimb center-out reach task in mice that allows us to specify the role of genetically accessible elements (specific cell types, projections) in a high-throughput fashion.

Specifically, using fully automated training and closed-loop optogenetics in joystick-endowed homecages, we can train freely moving mice in a direction-specific center-out reach task while inactivating different brain regions and projections.

In this wiki we describe the system, and give specific instructions for the construction of the joystick, behavior boxes and the software pipeline to acquire and analyse the high volume of behavioral data. To build your own version of the behavioral system, please follow the instructions in the Side Bar, starting with "Build a Joystick".

People involved with this experiment include:

PI Jesse Goldberg,

PhD candidate Teja Bollu,

undergraduate students Raghav Subramaniam ('15), Tori Ricelli ('16), Nitin Shyamkumar ('17), Nikil Prasad ('17),

and lab technician Jackson Walker ('15).