Behavior Monitoring & Control

Integrated closed-loop behavior control system combining fiber photometry, electrophysiology, and two-photon imaging with precise stimulus timing.

Overview

Understanding how the brain drives behavior requires recording and controlling neural activity with millisecond precision while animals perform well-defined tasks. We have developed an integrated behavior control and recording platform that synchronizes multiple modalities — fiber photometry, electrophysiology, and two-photon imaging — around a common timing reference: the animal’s own sniff cycle.

Figure 1: Behavior control and recording system. Left: modality hierarchy — the central Behavior Control & Recording System drives fiber photometry, electrophysiology, and two-photon imaging/stimulation in parallel. Center: head-fixed mouse preparation with odor delivery, sniff monitoring, and IR cameras for face tracking. Right: trial structure showing 1-second odor delivery, sniff-triggered laser pulse, lick detection, and water reward. Bottom: simultaneous ACh (fiber photometry), sniff rate, pupil size, and locomotion speed signals over a 50-second recording.

System Architecture

The platform is built around a central Behavior Control & Recording System that coordinates three recording modalities with sub-millisecond timing precision.

Fiber Photometry

Real-time readout of bulk neuromodulator signals (ACh, dopamine) and calcium activity from genetically defined cell populations during behavior.

Electrophysiology

Multi-site silicon probe recordings capturing single-unit and LFP activity across hippocampal and olfactory circuits simultaneously with behavior.

2P Imaging & Stimulation

Two-photon calcium imaging and optogenetic stimulation with targeted single-cell resolution, phase-locked to the sniff cycle.

Behavioral Paradigm

Animals are head-fixed and perform an odor-guided lick task:

Event	Timing
Odor delivery	1 sec pulse via olfactometer
Laser trigger	Sniff-locked — fires at first sniff after odor onset (\(t_{stim}\))
Lick window	Monitored post-stimulus
Reward	Water delivery on correct lick

Sniff phase-locking is critical — it aligns neural activity to a physiologically meaningful reference and enables comparison across trials and animals.

Continuous Monitoring Streams

Beyond the trial structure, we continuously record four parallel signals:

• ACh — cholinergic tone via fiber photometry (green)
• Sniff rate — breathing frequency from sniff sensor (blue)
• Pupil size — arousal proxy from IR face camera (magenta)
• Speed — locomotion from running wheel (gray)

This multivariate state vector allows us to disentangle neural activity driven by task events from that driven by fluctuations in arousal, movement, and neuromodulatory state — a critical confound in awake behaving recordings.

NoteImplement logic and control timing as precisely as possible

All modalities are synchronized to a common hardware clock. Stimulus delivery, laser triggering, lick detection, and camera frames are all timestamped to the same reference, enabling cross-modal alignment at single-sniff resolution.

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Interested in collaborating or accessing our behavioral platform? Get in touch.