Meso-Py

Nicholas Michelson and colleagues, in the lab of Timothy Murphy at the University of British Columbia, developed Meso-Py. It is a Raspberry-Pi based platform for dual-brain calcium imaging in mice during head-fixed social interactions. Designed to explore the neural mechanisms of social behavior, Meso-Py enables simultaneous monitoring of neural activity in two mice, combining widefield mesoscopic imaging with customizable social stimuli. This system captures large-scale cortical dynamics with high temporal and spatial resolution, providing a powerful tool for studying brain-wide activity during naturalistic behaviors. Validation experiments demonstrated the platform’s ability to reliably capture cortical activity patterns during social interactions, confirming its reliability for studying brain-wide dynamics. Hardware documentation, software, and protocols are provided, allowing researchers to replicate and customize the device easily. 

This research tool was created by your colleagues. Please acknowledge the Principal Investigator, cite the article in which the tool was described, and include an RRID in the Materials and Methods of your future publications. RRID: SCR_026530