Purchase_Description_program_04-30-19_final.pdf

Version 11-30-2016-1 FAR Part 11—Describing Agency Needs

PURCHASE DESCRIPTION

1. Statement of Need and Purpose:

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is establishing a new laboratory that will use cutting-edge physiological, imaging, and behavioral methods to investigate the relationship between human neurological disorders and brain function at the molecular, synaptic, cellular, and circuit levels. As part of this program, the new laboratory requires two systems for immersing (head-fixed) mice in a virtual reality environment. One of these systems will be used in conjunction with multiphoton microscopy. The other will be used in conjunction with microendoscopic imaging or chronically-implanted extracellular electrodes.

2. Background Information and Objective:

The NINDS will soon establish the Laboratory of Circuits, Synapses, and Molecular

Signaling (LCSMS), which will be led by the new Scientific Director. The LCSMS will study fundamental issues of synaptic transmission, neuronal excitability, neuromodulation, and neural circuit activity using animal models (principally, the mouse). These issues will be related to human neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders, and will be explored in brain areas including (but not limited to) the amygdala, basal forebrain cholinergic areas, the ventral hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.

A major line of research will employ virtual reality methods to interrogate mouse behavior.

These methods will be used in combination with multiphoton microscopy, extracellular electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and/or optogenetics. This research requires two systems that should be tightly integrated with each other: (1) a virtual reality system for head-fixed mice suitable for use with multiphoton microscopy and optogenetics, and (2) a virtual reality system for head-fixed mice suitable for use with extracellular electrophysiology, microendoscopic imaging, and optogenetics.

3. Generic Name of Product:

Virtual reality systems for mice

4. Salient characteristics

The NINDS LCSMS requires two virtual reality systems to interrogate the behavior of head-fixed mice. [In this document, the term “virtual reality” refers to systems that use interactive, computer-generated manipulations of sensory stimuli (visual, tactile, gustatory, olfactory, and/or auditory) to create brain states or provoke behavioral responses mimicking those corresponding to the physical environments being simulated on the computer.

Prominent examples of the use of virtual reality in modern neuroscience are described by

Harvey et al., Nature 461:941-946 (2009); Agahan et al., Nat. Neurosci. 18:121-128 (2015);

Thurley and Ayaz, Curr. Zool. 63:109-119 (2017); and Ravassard et al., Science 340:1342-

1346 (2018). The paper by Thurley and Ayaz is a broad review of contemporary efforts.]

I. SYSTEM 1 (multiphoton microscopy and optogenetics)

The first system will be used together with a multiphoton microscope. It must be compatible with such a microscope in physical arrangement (15” separation from the microscope light path, wrap around to encompass 270⁰ of the field of view in the XY plane) and in how its operations are synchronized (for example, via a TTL signal). The complete microscope system (including virtual reality equipment) will occupy half of a 5’ x 10’ anti-vibration table. The virtual reality system must also satisfy the following requirements:

• The system must enable the researcher to create a (spatial) virtual reality environment through which the mouse can navigate by moving its limbs while atop a floating ball or a treadmill.

• The horizontal distance between the optical path and the microscope frame will be approximately 8” (depending upon the multiphoton system chosen). The vertical distance between the bottom of the microscope’s 40x water-immersion objective and the anti-vibration table upon which the microscope sits will be no more than 10”. Any virtual reality equipment underneath the microscope’s objective – such as a treadmill or floating ball – must fit in this space.

• The virtual reality system must be suitable for use with a head-fixed mouse. Head fixation will be established by using adjacent posts to secure a metal headplate cemented to the mouse’s skull.

• The Contractor must supply a software package for control and programming of the virtual reality environment. The software must allow users to specify the visual reality environment using a graphical user interface, a script, or a high-level programming language. By “high level” we mean a widely-used, interpreted language such as Matlab, LabView, or Python. Compiled languages such as C and C++ are not “high level” by this definition and are not acceptable. The software must allow users to design virtual counterparts of such standard mouse behavioral environments as the T maze, the open field, the Y maze, and the plus maze. The software must also allow coordination with other equipment (such as electrophysiological amplifiers) through the sending and/or receiving of TTL signals.

• A computer capable of running the virtual reality system must be provided, along with all necessary peripherals and cabling. The computer system shall meet or exceed the follow specifications: Windows 10 Pro operating system, Intel Core i7 3GHz processor, 16 GB memory, 256 GB solid-state drive (with at least 1 TB total storage), 19” monitor.

• The head-fixed mouse shall sit atop and move on a floating ball (as, for example, in Harvey et al, Nature 461:941-946 (2009)) or a treadmill (as, for example, in Bittner et al., Nat. Neurosci. 18:1133-1142 (2015)). The system shall include a floating ball, and it must be possible to modify the system to substitute a treadmill. The floating ball shall be air cushioned with a diameter of at least 6”. The treadmill shall have ball bearing mounted pulleys.

• In the case of a floating ball, all regulator(s) and other parts necessary for pressure distribution must be provided.

• The principal sensory stimuli manipulated by the virtual reality system will be visual. The system must therefore include visual displays (e.g., a panel of LCD displays) that encompass much of the mouse’s visual field. In the horizontal plane, the displays must wrap around by at least 270°; the displays must be at least 19” diagonal. It should be possible to access the animal from the front (i.e., by having the front panels swing out.)

• The system must be expandable to other sensory modalities. In particular, the system shall include or be able to incorporate a liquid dispenser (liquid reward), a whisker stimulator, a mechanism to deliver an air puff to the mouse’s eye, and a system for tone delivery.

II. SYSTEM 2 (microendoscopic, extracellular, optogenetics)

The second system will be used together with microendoscopic imaging, extracellular electrophysiology, and/or optogenetic stimulation. The virtual reality system must be compatible with these methods (leaving space for their associated cables) and must include some means of synchronizing with them (e.g., by receiving or sending TTL signals.) The system must also satisfy the following requirements:

• The system must enable the researcher to create a (spatial) virtual reality environment through which the mouse can navigate by moving its limbs while atop a floating ball or a treadmill.

• The system will sit on (and must fit on) an anti-vibration table with XY dimensions of 48” x 60”.

• The system must be suitable for use with a head-fixed mouse. Head fixation will be established by using adjacent posts to secure a metal headplate cemented to the mouse’s skull.

• The Contractor must supply a software package for control and programming of the virtual reality environment. The software must allow users to specify the visual reality environment using a graphical user interface, a script, or a high-level programming language. By “high level” we mean a widely-used, interpreted language such as Matlab, LabView, or Python. Compiled languages such as C and C++ are not “high level” by this definition and are not acceptable. The software must allow users to design virtual counterparts of such standard mouse behavioral environments as the T maze, the open field, the Y maze, and the plus maze. The software must also allow coordination with other equipment (such as electrophysiological amplifiers) through the sending and/or receiving of TTL signals.

• A computer capable of running the virtual reality system must be provided, along with all necessary peripherals and cabling. The computer system shall meet or exceed the follow specifications: Windows 10 Pro operating system, Intel Core i7 3GHz processor, 16 GB memory, 256 GB solid-state drive (with at least 1 TB total storage), 19” monitor.

• The head-fixed mouse shall sit atop and move on a floating ball (as, for example, in Harvey et al, Nature 461:941-946 (2009)) or a treadmill (as, for example, in Bittner et al., Nat. Neurosci. 18:1133-1142 (2015)). The system must include both a floating ball and a treadmill. The floating ball shall be air cushioned with a diameter of at least 6”. The treadmill shall have ball bearing mounted pulleys.

• In the case of a floating ball, all regulator(s) and other parts necessary for pressure distribution must be provided.

• The principal sensory stimuli manipulated by the virtual reality system will be visual. The visual display environment must be dome-shaped with a diameter of more than 1 m and must, in the horizontal plane, encompass at least 200°.

• The system must be expandable to other sensory modalities. In particular, the system shall include or be able to incorporate a liquid dispenser (liquid reward), a whisker stimulator, a mechanism to deliver an air puff to the mouse’s eye, and a tone delivery system.

5. Quantity: 2 systems

6. Delivery Date:

The Contractor shall deliver the equipment within 90 days after receipt of order. Delivery must be FOB destination and include inside delivery. Details of delivery, installation, and onsite support shall be coordinated with the COR.

7. Warranty.

Contractor shall warrant that the Equipment will be free from defects for a period of twelve

(12) months from the date of acceptance, and shall replace or repair any defective parts.