Overview

MyoGen is a modular and extensible neuromuscular simulation framework for generating physiologically grounded motor-unit activity, muscle force, and surface EMG signals.

It supports end-to-end modeling of the neuromuscular pathway, from descending neural drive and spinal motor neuron dynamics to muscle activation and bioelectric signal formation at the electrode level. MyoGen is designed for algorithm validation, hypothesis-driven research, and education, providing configurable building blocks that can be independently combined and extended.

Highlights

🧬 Biophysically inspired neuron models — NEURON-based motor neurons with validated calcium dynamics and membrane properties

🎯 Everything is inspectable — Complete access to every motor unit, spike time, fiber location etc. for rigorous algorithm testing

⚡️ Vectorized & parallel — Multi-core CPU processing with NumPy/Numba vectorization for fast computation

🔬 End-to-end simulation — From motor unit recruitment to high-density surface EMG in a single framework

📊 Reproducible science — Deterministic random seeds and standardized Neo Block outputs for exact replication

📦 NWB export — Optional export to Neurodata Without Borders format for data sharing via DANDI

🧰 Comprehensive toolkit — Surface EMG, intramuscular EMG, force generation, and spinal network modeling

Installation

Requires Python 3.12+ — Check your version with python --version

System Requirements

Step 1: Install uv (Package Manager)

We use uv - a fast Python package manager. Install it first:

Windows (open PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Linux/macOS:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

After installing, restart your terminal (close and reopen it).

Step 2: Create a New Project

Open a terminal and navigate to where you want your project:

# Create a new folder for your project
mkdir my_emg_project
cd my_emg_project

# Initialize a Python project
uv init

# Add MyoGen to your project
uv add myogen

That's it! MyoGen is now installed and ready to use.

Step 3: Verify Installation

Create a test file to make sure everything works:

# Create a test script
uv run python -c "from myogen import simulator; print('MyoGen installed successfully!')"

If you see MyoGen installed successfully! - you're all set!

Alternative: pip install

If you prefer pip over uv:

pip install myogen

For Developers (From Source)

git clone https://github.com/NsquaredLab/MyoGen.git
cd MyoGen
uv sync
uv run poe setup_myogen

Optional: GPU Acceleration

For 5-10× faster convolutions (requires NVIDIA GPU):

uv add cupy-cuda12x

Documentation

📖 Read the full documentation

• User Guide — Working with simulation outputs
• API Reference — Complete class documentation
• Examples — Step-by-step tutorials from recruitment to EMG

How to Cite

If you use MyoGen in your research, please cite:

@article{simpetru_molinari_2026_myogen,
  title   = {MyoGen: Unified Biophysical Modeling of Human Neuromotor Activity and Resulting Signals},
  author  = {S{\^i}mpetru, Raul C. and Molinari, Ricardo G. and Rohlf, Devon R. and
             Batichotti, Rebeka L. and Watanabe, Renato N. and
             Elias, Leonardo A. and Del Vecchio, Alessandro},
  journal = {bioRxiv},
  note    = {preprint},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.64898/2026.01.01.697284},
  url     = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.01.697284}
}

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See issues if you want to add a feature or fix a bug.

Contributors

MyoGen is authored by Raul C. Sîmpetru and Ricardo G. Molinari. It is a joint project of the Nsquared Lab (Neuromuscular Physiology and Neural Interfacing Laboratory) at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, the NER Lab (Neural Engineering Research Laboratory) at the University of Campinas, and the BMClab (Biomechanics and Motor Control Laboratory) at the Federal University of ABC.

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

Raul C. Sîmpetru 💻 🤔 🚧 📆 🔬	Ricardo G. Molinari 🤔 🚧 🔬	Devon R. Rohlf 💻 🚧 🔬	Renato N. Watanabe 💻 🤔 🧑‍🏫 🔬	Alessandro Del Vecchio 🤔 🧑‍🏫 🔬	Leonardo A. Elias 🤔 🧑‍🏫 🔬	João Bittar 🐛 🤔
BraveUnicorn 💻
Add your contributions

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!

License

MyoGen is AGPL licensed. See LICENSE for details.