Banca de DEFESA: RENAN ARAUJO DE LIMA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : RENAN ARAUJO DE LIMA
DATE: 12/04/2023
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Sala Virtual PPgEEC
TITLE:

SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR BEHAVIORAL BOX FOR THE STUDY OF TACTILE DISCRIMINATION TASKS IN RODENTS

KEY WORDS:
PAGES: 65
BIG AREA: Ciências Exatas e da Terra
AREA: Ciência da Computação
SUBÁREA: Metodologia e Técnicas da Computação
SPECIALTY: Processamento Gráfico (Graphics)
SUMMARY:

The area of Neurophysiology of Social Behaviors in Rodents has the general objective of investigating the electrophysiological correlates of social behaviors in rodents. Examples of studies in the area include the investigation of neural processing disorders and synaptic plasticity in animal models of autism and changes in synaptic plasticity in animal models of epilepsy. This area uses sophisticated and expensive equipment, and some of the existing platforms are proprietary brands, obsolete, and using old technology. There is a prominent need to improve this equipment to aid research, seek cheaper alternatives, with open construction, and use more up-to-date components. With that in mind, in this work, we propose improvements in the software platform that receives data and controls the necessary operations in the experiments using the behavioral box. Specifically, we contribute on three fronts. At first, we developed software aimed at automating a behavioral box in a tactile discrimination task, which, in its new version, uses the Arduino microcontroller. Also, we developed the software part of the Supervisory System, in Python, which communicates with Arduino, for visualization and definition of the tasks to be carried out in the behavioral box. Finally, we developed basic computer vision routines for locating the rodent within the behavioral apparatus, indicating its position and orientation. These developments collaborate so that the box can be automated, reducing manual interaction with the experimenter, and thus contributing to improving the process of studying tactile discrimination in rodents.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1345674 - LUIZ MARCOS GARCIA GONCALVES
Externo à Instituição - ALMIR KIMURA JUNIOR - UEA
Externo à Instituição - ANDOUGLAS GONÇALVES DA SILVA JÚNIOR - IFRN