The principal investigator (PI) wanted to be able to surround a mouse with a 4-walled display of synchronized striped patterns for behavioral experiments, and to sync the history of these displays with her neural and video recording system. The Research Software Programming team developed a MATLAB program to display the desired patterns on a set of four computer monitors arranged as a box, controlled by a fifth monitor, with additional signals wired from the computer to the recording system to track the timing and types of patterns displayed.

The researchers had created a Qualtrics survey to probe the participant’s voting preferences. However, the way this information needed to be displayed and the data the researcher needed to collect was not possible in a standard survey. The Research Software Programming team was able to help create a custom information environment embedded in the Qualtrics survey using Javascript and custom HTML.

The lab wanted to run experiments that involved taking spectroscopy measurements at a large number of intervals of movement of a delay line stage. This required running separate control programs for the spectroscope and the delay line, with a lab worker manually tending the experiment the entire time to trigger each delay line stage move and subsequent spectroscope measurement, an extremely tedious and time-consuming process. The Research Software Programming team developed a program to control both pieces of equipment, automating this experimental process. The program allows extensive configuration of the experiment parameters, as well as the analysis and display of the results, all in a single piece of software.

The lab needed a way to track color changes in a selected area, and was also interested in prototyping a wearable device that could handle the same task. They explored existing apps, and could not find anything that would meet their needs, so we created a small, custom iPhone app to handle their data collection.

The lab needed data to refine and test their Circadian Rhythms Models, so our group created iPhone and Android apps that allowed users to donate their heart rate and step data and get an analysis back from the lab in return. The smartphone sends data to a server/database, and it is processed by multiple algorithms, some of which generate reports for the users.