npc_sessions

neuropixels cloud sessions

Tools for accessing data and metadata for behavior and epyhys sessions from the Mindscope Neuropixels team - in the cloud.

quickstart

Make a conda environment with python>=3.9 and simply pip install the npc_sessions package:

conda create -n npc_sessions python>=3.9
conda activate npc_sessions
pip install npc_sessions

>>> from npc_sessions import DynamicRoutingSession, get_sessions;

# each object is used to get metadata and paths for a session:         
>>> session = DynamicRoutingSession('668755_2023-08-31')  
>>> session.is_ephys                                
True
>>> session.stim_paths[0].stem                      
'DynamicRouting1_668755_20230831_131418'
# data is processed on-demand to generate individual pynwb modules:
>>> session.subject                                 # doctest: +SKIP
  subject pynwb.file.Subject at 0x1999418231888
  Fields:
    age: P205D
    age__reference: birth
    date_of_birth: 2023-02-06 20:23:02-08:00
    genotype: wt/wt
    sex: M
    species: Mus musculus
    strain: C57BL6J(NP)
    subject_id: 668755

# a full NWBFile instance can also be generated with all currently-available data:
>>> session.nwb                                     # doctest: +SKIP
root pynwb.file.NWBFile at 0x...
Fields:
  acquisition: {
    lick spout <class 'ndx_events.events.Events'>
  }
  devices: {
    18005102491 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>,
    18005114452 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>,
    18005123131 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>,
    18194810652 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>,
    19192719021 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>,
    19192719061 <class 'pynwb.device.Device'>
  }
   ...  

# loop over all currently-tracked sessions using the session-generator:
>>> all(s.session_start_time.year >= 2022 for s in get_sessions()) # doctest: +SKIP
True
>>> trials_dfs = {}
>>> for session in get_sessions():                  # doctest: +SKIP
...     trials_dfs[session.id] = session.trials[:]

to develop with conda

To install with the intention of contributing to this package:

create a conda environment:

conda create -n npc_sessions python>=3.9
conda activate npc_sessions

clone npc_sessions from github:

git clone git@github.com:AllenInstitute/npc_sessions.git

pip install all dependencies:

cd npc_sessions
pip install -e .

Hierarchy of required packages

packages

Current NWB components

key data types

(the following all have a description field, as well as other type-specific attributes)

DynamicTable: for general tabular data
- e.g. nwb.units
- each column in the table is stored as a vector, which can be accessed individually (fast)
- can be accessed as a pandas dataframe with nwb.units[:], but requires reading all data in all columns (slow)
- as well as individual values, cells in the table can contain multidimensional arrays. These are represented differently depending on location:
  - in the pandas dataframe, these are represented as one would expect:
    - nwb.units[:].spike_times.iloc[0] is a 1-D array
    - nwb.units[:].waveform_mean.iloc[0] is a 2-D array (time x channels)
  - in the non-dataframe memory representation, there are sometimes two components, where the *_index is the one that should be used:
    - nwb.units.spike_times is a 1-D array of all spike times for all units, in chronological order (float)
    - nwb.units.spike_times_index is a list (len = num units) of arrays (len = num spikes for each unit)
  - on disk, these columns separated columns are different again, for example:
    - /nwb/units/spike_times is a 1-D array of all spike times for all units, in chronological order (float)
    - /nwb/units/spike_times_index is a 1-D array of values corresponding to the end of each unit's times in /nwb/units/spike_times:
      - the first unit's spike times are in spike_times[: spike_times_index[0]]
      - the second unit's are in spike_times[spike_times_index[0]: spike_times_index[1]]
TimeIntervals: for tabular data where each row is an interval of time
- a subclass of DynamicTable which must have a start_time and stop_time column, plus any other user-defined columns
TimeSeries: for general array data
- has an array of data (1-D or N-D, with time as first dimension)
- has units as a string
- has either:
  - timestamps (same length as data)
  - starting_time and rate (assumed to be constant)
ElectricalSeries: for ephys array data
- a subclass of TimeSeries with units fixed as volts
Events: an NWB extension for discrete event times
- like the TimeSeries class, but only has timestamps, without values for data (think: lick times)

session metadata (multiple attributes)
subject (multiple attributes)
devices: DynamicTable
- physical probes (model, serial number)
- currently only neuropixels probes
electrode_groups: DynamicTable
- represents the group of channels on one probe inserted in the brain
- has session-specific info, like position relative to other probes or stereotactic coords
electrodes: DynamicTable
- individual channels on a probe
- has CCF coords
units: DynamicTable
- metrics, links to electrodes via peak_channel
epochs: TimeIntervals
- start/stop time of each stim block
- has a list of tags (includes TaskControl subclass name)
intervals: Mapping[str, TimeIntervals]
- 1x table per stim epoch with trials
- behavior performance table (each block an interval)
trials: TimeIntervals
- same as intervals[DynamicRouting1]
invalid_times: TimeIntervals
acquisition: Mapping[str, Any] raw data
- if is_ephys:
  - raw AP: Mapping[str, ElectricalSeries]
  - raw LFP: Mapping[str, ElectricalSeries]
- if is_sync:
  - lick_sensor_rising_edges: Events
  - lick_sensor_falling_edges: Events
- if is_task:
  - rewards: Events
- if is_video:
  - video frame times: 1x Events per camera
processing: Mapping[str, Any] processed/filtered data
- behavior: Mapping[str, Any]
  - licks: Events
    - from sync or stim file
  - running_speed: TimeSeries
    - from stim file, enhanced with sync info if available
- ecephys: Mapping[str, Any]
analysis: Mapping[str, Any] derived data, results
- if is_ephys:
  - all_spike_histograms: 1x TimeSeries per probe
  - drift_maps: ImageSeries
- if is_task:
  - performance: TimeIntervals

Todo:

filtered LFP
stimulus templates (vis, aud, opto)
OptogeneticStimulusSite
analysis -> RFMaps
per-unit response metric for each stim modality

Release files for npc_sessions 0.0.290

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