CED European Training Days

10th & 11th May 2018

The CED development team hosted two training days on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th May at the St John's Innovation Centre Cambridge.

We offered these training days at a price of £95 + VAT (£114) per day. Tea, coffee and buffet lunch are provided.

The training days are for users and prospective users of Spike2 and Signal. The courses are designed so that delegates can attend either one or both days. There are two separate core "threads", each consisting of four sessions of approximately one hour on both days, with some optional workshop sessions planned. For those wanting more, a general workshop will run for an hour after the last session on Thursday, and there is an 'early bird' session over coffee for an hour before the formal start on Friday morning.

The program includes a worked examples session for Spike2 and a workshop detailing the advanced features in Signal for TMS, patching, voltage and dynamic clamping. Popular sessions such as the Analysis section of the Spike2 thread are delivered over two sessions, as there is too much to digest in a single session. Workshops are designed with small groups in mind to discuss how CED systems can help in the recording and analysis of specific data types. Often we 'create' an experiment using attendee's data and our own examples. Please bring along any data you would like to look at. Scripts can also be written to illustrate analyses not covered by built-in functions.

The sessions are classroom style. Delegates are encouraged to ask questions at any time and sessions can be adapted to answer them often showing varied methods available. You are more than welcome to bring with you a laptop to follow along.

We run similar training days in the US just before the annual US Society for Neuroscience meeting.

Provisional program

Day 1 - Thursday, 10th May 2018
Thread	Spike2	Signal	Workshops
Session 1	Introduction	Introduction	Script introduction*
Session 2	Sampling	Sampling	Script toolbox*
Session 3	Analysis menu #1	Analysis menu	Workshop
Session 4	Analysis menu #2	Advanced analysis	Workshop
A late one hour general workshop will be run after the last formal sessions
Day 2 - Friday, 11th May 2018
An 'early bird' general workshop over coffee for an hour before the formal sessions start
Thread	Spike2	Scripting	Workshops
Session 1	Spike sorting #1	Script introduction*	Patch and Voltage clamp
Session 2	Spike sorting #2	Script toolbox*	Signal advanced sampling
Session 3	Graphical sequence editor	Scripts and data	Workshop
Session 4	Worked examples	Spike2 on-line scripts	Workshop

* Script introduction and Script toolbox are run on both days for those wishing to attend Spike sorting #1 and #2 as well.

Each day starts at 9:30 with registration and coffee, and the teaching sessions start at 10:00. The formal sessions end at 16:00. Between the teaching sessions there will be tea and coffee and the opportunity for discussions with senior CED staff and other delegates.

If you need to stay overnight, click here for a map of local hotels and guest houses. The majority of these establishments are listed on the Cambridge Tourist Information Where to Stay on-line guide and have been extracted for their geographical position relative to the training day venue and CED's offices. Please contact these establishments directly to make your reservations. On the booking form we offer transportation from the railway station and collection from hotels/guest houses, please indicate which of these services you require. There is ample parking for those using their own transport and bus routes run from Cambridge City Centre to Cowley Road/Milton Road. See details of the Citi 2, Guided Busway C and Green Park & Ride bus services.

---

Day 1 - Thursday, 10th May 2018

---

Spike2

Session 1 - Introduction to Spike2
This is a general overview of Spike2. A walk through most of the features in the program demonstrating the use of menu items, data display options, applications and the ideas behind Spike2.

Session 2 - Spike2 Sampling
This session explains how various types of data can be captured with Spike2. How to configure sampling configurations to make the most efficient use of your available hardware. Descriptions of the different data types and sampling procedures for each. A look at how CED Talker add-on programs communicate and deliver data from third party equipment, such as DSI and Delsys Trigno, will be covered.

Session 3 - Spike2 Analysis menu #1
Held over two sessions that look in detail at features in the analysis menu of Spike2 including built-in analysis types, memory buffers, virtual channels, marker filters, curve fitting, digital filtering, channel processes and trend plots using active cursors on and off-line.

Session 4 - Spike2 Analysis menu #2
Second part, continuing from the previous session.

---

Signal

Session 1 - Introduction to Signal
A general introduction to Signal including what it can do, sampling, getting started and general tour of where to find and use analysis and other powerful built-in features.

Session 2 - Signal Sampling
Setting up and carrying out sampling with Signal. Configuring outputs, overview of multiple states and the advanced triggering options of the program.

Session 3 - Signal Analysis menu #1
Held over two sessions that describe features in the analysis menu of Signal. The first session will cover built-in analyses to generate memory views, tagging and appending frames, curve fitting and use of the frame buffer and channel processes.

Session 4 - Signal Analysis menu #2
Continuation of the previous session, describing the analysis features in Signal including digital filtering, virtual and memory channels as well as data measurements using active cursors.

---

Workshops

Session 1 - Script introduction Spike2 & Signal - repeated on Day 2
General overview of the script language for both Spike2 and Signal software, including syntax and basic concepts, e.g. variables, loops and function calls. Having the ability to script enables you to automate repetitive tasks, produce custom analyses and simplify otherwise complex tasks.

Session 2 - Script toolbox Spike2 & Signal - repeated on Day 2
Continuation of the general script language features, including handling views, introduction to XY plots, user defined toolbars, dialog boxes, etc.

Session 3 - Workshop
An opportunity for users of Spike2 or Signal to discuss specific requirements, script requests or other issues including hardware connections and use.

Session 4 - Workshop
An opportunity for users of Spike2 or Signal to discuss specific requirements, script requests or other issues including hardware connections and use.

---

Day 2 - Friday, 11th May 2018

---

Spike2

Session 1 - Spike sorting #1
On and off-line spike sorting with a number of tips and tricks. Setting up, WaveMark capture, classification and editing, Spike2 monitor window, marker filtering and analysis.

Session 2 - Spike sorting #2
Continuation of Spike sorting #1 and introducing PCA, cluster on measurements and other cluster based analyses of spike data.

Session 3 - Spike2 graphical sequence editor
A demonstration of how to control digital and analogue outputs for stimulus generation during sampling. A look at how sequencer output sections can be linked together and how decisions can be made in real-time on what next to do based on incoming data.

Session 4 - Worked examples
Working through a complete experiment from sampling to analysis, summarising Spike2 features presented in previous sessions and examples of how to make use of them in an experiment set-up. This session is designed to be user-driven.

---

Scripting

Session 1 - Script introduction Spike2 & Signal - repeat of session on Day 1
General overview of the script language for both Spike2 and Signal software, including syntax and basic concepts, e.g. variables, loops and function calls. Having the ability to script enables you to automate repetitive tasks, produce custom analyses and simplify otherwise complex tasks.

Session 2 - Script toolbox Spike2 & Signal - repeat of session on Day 1
Continuation of the general script language features for both Spike2 and Signal software, including handling views, introduction to XY plots, toolbars, dialog boxes, etc.

Session 3 - Scripts and data
Introduction to the use of scripts for data manipulation, etc., with examples of how to take measurements of result and data view based information and locating features within data.

Session 4 - Spike2 on-line scripts
On-line script writing, script control of sampling and use of idle routines. Though Spike2 specific, many of the concepts are also in Signal.

---

Workshops

Session 1 - Patch and Voltage Clamp
Workshop for users of Signal to discuss features designed to support patch and voltage clamp experiments (whole cell, single channel and dynamic clamping). Use of amplifiers, telegraphing, leak subtraction and open/closed time and amplitude histograms.

Session 2 - Signal advanced sampling
Details the use of the multiple states sampling system including control of external hardware such as magnetic stimulators for TMS work. Output States ordering and protocol generation.

Session 3 - Workshop
An opportunity for users of Spike2 or Signal to discuss specific requirements, script requests or other issues including hardware connections and use.

Session 4 - Workshop
An opportunity for users of Spike2 or Signal to discuss specific requirements, script requests or other issues including hardware connections and use.

---