Ceci Herbert

Ceci Herbert

Training, Support and Community Engagement

Open Ephys

Talleres Open Source

About me

I train and provide technical support for researchers at Open Ephys. My focus is on open source tools for behavioral neuroscience: hardware and software for electrophysiology and neuronal imaging acquisition in freely behaving animals, as well as for behavioral recording and control.

I love crafting interactive activities to demo tools and concepts for workshops and scientific events, and strive to disseminate knowledge inclusively and accessibly, focusing on new users and language barriers.

I started volunteering and developing open science initiatives because I am passionate about teaching people new tools to help solve their problems and encouraging others to learn. One of my proudest moments was organizing workshops and a week long online course with fellow graduate students to bring open source to our side of the world, in Spanish. You can learn more about Talleres Open Source and use the course materials. We sent kits to 25 students from 8 countries across Latin America, and also had more participants follow the talks and recorded lectures.

Previously, during my PhD at the Dynamical Systems Laboratory (UBA-CONICET, Argentina), I studied the neural coding of song production using extracellular electrophysiology. I built custom lightweight microdrives and used microwire tetrodes to record single-unit and LFP activity during song in canaries. You can check out my work and outreach on bioacoustics and sound visualization below.

Besides working in this space, I enjoy going to the beach and exploring the outdoors, cooking and trying new food, tinkering at home and live music.

Check out my background, teaching experience, invited talks and more in my Resume.

Experience


 
 
 
 
 
Extracellular Electrophysiology Acquisition Cajal NeuroKit Course by Open Ephys
09 Oct 2023 – 13 Oct 2023 Online, Worldwide
Organized the course and taught the basics of extracellular ephys acquisition in this 5 day remote course in which students build an basic system at home using an electronics kit for 35 students across 17 countries. All the materials are open source on GitHub.
 
 
 
 
 
TBNSS - Transatlantic Behavioral Neuroscience Summer School
18 Sep 2023 – 29 Sep 2023 Capilla del Señor, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Lectured on open source neuroscience acquisition systems (Open Ephys Acquisition Board and UCLA Miniscopes), synchronization and closed-loop feedback. Demoed DLC-live in Bonsai with superanimals.
 
 
 
 
 
Talk and hands-on workshop “Miniscopes at Open Ephys”, Paris Neuro Course
09 May 2023 – 14 May 2023 Paris, France - remote participateion
Presented the UCLA Miniscope system with insights about how user feedback shapes iterations of the tools produced at Open Ephys. Demoed Miniscope acquisition in Bonsai for use of coaxial commutators and synchronization with external hardware to integrate calcium imaging acquisition with behavioral paradigms. Collab with Alex Leighton.
 
 
 
 
 
Workshop “Open Source Tools for Behavioral Neuroscience”, NeuroDoWo
02 May 2023 – 05 May 2023 Konstanz, Germany - remote participateion
Focused on closed-loop setups using the Open Ephys GUI and acquistion board. Interactive stations included live tracking and pose estimation using Bonsai and DeepLabCut.
 
 
 
 
 
ISN school and Latin American Miniscope Workshop
12 Dec 2022 – 15 Dec 2022 Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 
 
 
 
 
Modern Approaches to Behavioral Analysis Cajal NeuroKit Course
21 Nov 2022 – 25 Nov 2022 Online, Worldwide
Taught advanced techniques for measuring and analysing behaviour, as well as fundamental principles of studying behavior, focused on the use of DeepLabCut.
 
 
 
 
 
Hands-on module “Closed-loop behavior with Bonsai”, SfN Latin American Training Program
10 Oct 2022 – 14 Oct 2022 Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay
Led students to build a setup controlled with Bonsai for a behavioral experiment involving object recognition and closed-loop feedback. Collab with Marcos Coletti, Juan Ignacio Sanguinetti-Scheck and Leonel Gómez. All the materials are open source on GitHub.
 
 
 
 
 
TENSS - Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School
01 Jun 2022 – 21 Jun 2022 The Pike Lake, Transylvania, Rumania
Project based school about modern optical and electrophysiological methods to study the connectivity and function of neuronal circuits. We built microscopes (including a 2-photon!) and ephys setups for freely-behaving animals.
 
 
 
 
 
Extracellular Electrophysiology Acquisition Cajal NeuroKit Course by Open Ephys
23 May 2022 – 27 May 2022 Online, Worldwide
 
 
 
 
 
Extracellular Electrophysiology Acquisition Cajal NeuroKit Course by Open Ephys
06 Dec 2021 – 10 Dec 2021 Online, Worldwide
 
 
 
 
 
Taller práctico abierto IBRO-LARC sobre adquisición de señales neuronales
01 Nov 2021 – 05 Nov 2021 Online, Latin America
Inspired by the Open Ephys Cajal NeuroKit Course and with a group of colleagues, we adapted the materials and gave a course in Spanish using kits to 25 students in 8 countries across Latin America, at no cost to them thanks to IBRO funding. The course included lectures by open source tool developers. All the materials are open source on GitHub and on YouTube.
 
 
 
 
 
Extracellular Electrophysiology Acquisition Cajal NeuroKit Course by Open Ephys
22 Mar 2021 – 26 Mar 2021 Online, Worldwide
 
 
 
 
 
Neural Systems and Behavior
03 Jun 2018 – 29 Jul 2018 Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
Intensive eight-week laboratory and lecture course focusing on the neural basis of behavior, with weekly guest lecturer seminars. Leech, Electric Fish, Fly and Rodent Somatosensory cycles.

Projects

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Pose Theremin

Pose Theremin

Outreach activities using real-time pose estimation in Bonsai

How do sounds look?

How do sounds look?

Outreach activities using spectrograms for FCEN UBA Biology Week

Talleres Open Source

Talleres Open Source

Practical virtual workshops in Spanish

Insights into neural signal acquisition course

Insights into neural signal acquisition course

Hands-on remote workshop for Latin American students

Publications

(2020). Dynamical model for the neural activity of singing Serinus canaria. In Chaos.

Cite Video DOI

(2019). Significant Instances in Motor Gestures of Different Songbird Species. In Frontiers in Physics.

DOI

Contact