About The OpenBehavior Project and the Open Source Movement
Free, Open-Source Tools for Animal Behavior Research
Welcome to OpenBehavior! Launched in 2016, the OpenBehavior project is your one-stop shop for advancing research in neuroscience. We curate a database of the latest open-source tools for studying animal behavior. Find everything you need through blog posts on new tools and tutorials & resources for building them. We aim to empower your research, so you can use the latest tools as quickly as possible, develop innovative methods, and accelerate behavioral neuroscience.
The project is currently supported by the National Science Foundation through grant DBI 1948181.
You follow us at www.openbehavior.com and through our account on Twitter/X @OpenBehavior. If you would like to get in touch our team, please send us an email message at openbehavior@gmail.com.
What is Open Source and what are the benefits?
Open Source Tools
Open Access: Open-source projects share their design files and source code (software) freely. Anyone can view, modify, and improve them.
Collaboration: Open source fosters a community of researchers working together. This leads to faster innovation and problem-solving.
Cost-Effective: Replicate existing tools at a fraction of the price compared to commercial products.
Customization: Build and modify tools to perfectly fit your specific research needs.
Benefits of the Open-Source Approach
Rapid Access: Use new methods as soon as possible. No need to wait for a commercial vendor to make a new device or provide new software.
Flexibility: Go beyond the limitations of pre-built commercial tools and explore new research questions.
Collaboration: Join a global community of researchers sharing knowledge and expertise in behavioral neuroscience and related methods.
You can read about our approach in this paper:
White SR, Amarante LM, Kravitz AV, Laubach M. The future is open: open-source tools for behavioral neuroscience research. eneuro. 2019 Jul 1;6(4). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0223-19.2019
Latest Tweets and Blog Posts from OpenBehavior
The OpenBehavior Team
Mark Laubach, PhD
Professor, American University – Washington, DC.
Co-founded The OpenBehavior Project in 2016
Alexxai Kravitz, PhD
Professor, Washington University – St. Louis, MO.
Co-founded The Open Behavior Project in 2016
Jibran Khokhar, PhD
Professor, University of Western Ontario, ON, Can.
Contributor for OpenBehavior
Kevin Chavez Lopez, BS
Doctoral Student, American University – Washington DC
Managing the 3D print repository, content creation, and website management
Jensen Palmer, MS
Doctoral Student, American University – Washington DC
Content creation and website management
Abby St Jean
Undergraduate Student, American University – Washington DC
Content creation and new video collection
Linda Amarante, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher – NIMH, Bethesda, MD
Contributor for OpenBehavior
Sean Bradley, PhD
Staff Scientist, NIMH (Contractor) – Bethesda, MD
Contributor for OpenBehavior
Jude Frie, BAS, B.Sc.H.
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Western Ontario, ON, Can.
Contributor for OpenBehavior
Samantha White, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher – NIMH, Bethesda, MD
Website Design and Contributor for OpenBehavior
Former Contributors
Wambura Fobbs
Meagan Mitchell
Kyra Swanson
Hannah Goldbach
Michael Preston
Julia Licholai
Hao Chen
Marty Isaacson
Cammi Rood
Lan Hooton
Funding Support
NSF 1948181 to ML and AVK, 2021-24
NASA DC Space Grant Consortium to ML, Summer 2017
Always looking for more support.