mcnaughton2000-to-nwb

Convert the McNaughton Neurolab (STS-90) hippocampal place cell dataset to NWB.

Dataset

This converts data from the Neurolab Space Shuttle mission (April 1998), in which hippocampal CA1 place cells were recorded from three freely moving rats in microgravity. The rats navigated a 3D "Escher Staircase" track and a flat "Magic Carpet" track while spike data was collected via chronically implanted multi-tetrode arrays.

Publication: Knierim, J. J., McNaughton, B. L. & Poe, G. R. Three-dimensional spatial selectivity of hippocampal neurons during space flight. Nature Neuroscience 3, 209-210 (2000). doi:10.1038/72910

Source data: NASA OSDR OSD-968

NWB dataset: DANDI:001754

Installation

pip install -e .

Usage

Convert all 8 sessions (3 rats, preflight + flight days):

python -m mcnaughton2000_to_nwb.convert_all_sessions \
    --base /path/to/McNaughton_Neurolab \
    --output ./output

Convert a single subject:

python -m mcnaughton2000_to_nwb.convert_all_sessions \
    --base /path/to/McNaughton_Neurolab \
    --output ./output \
    --subjects FD9RAT1

The --base directory should contain 1_RAW_(original_files)/ and ANALYZED_(original_files)/ subdirectories.

Output

Each NWB file contains:

• Units — spike-sorted neurons with spike times, tetrode assignment, and cluster ID
• Electrodes — tetrode electrode groups mapped to hippocampal CA1
• Epochs — task intervals (Escher Staircase, Magic Carpet, Baseline)
• Position — video-tracked x/y coordinates (flight sessions only)
• Rate maps — pre-computed 64x64 spatial firing rate and occupancy maps from the original analysis