NEURONgrid: A toolkit for generating parameter-space maps using NEURON in a grid environment

Abstract

Neuroscience research increasingly involves the exploration of computational models of neurons and neural networks. To ensure systematic model exploration, it is often desirable to conduct a parameter-space analysis in which the behavior of the model is catalogued over a very large range of parameter permutations. Here we report the development and testing of a toolkit called NEURONgrid for conducting this type of analysis in a grid environment using NEURON (Hines & Carnevale, 1997, 2001), a popular and powerful simulation platform for the neurosciences. NEURONgrid provides helper classes within NEURON for manipulating parameters, a package of NEURON for running in a grid environment, and a management client that enables neuroscientists to submit a parameter-space analysis, monitor progress, and download results. NEURONgrid provides a user-friendly means for conducting intensive model exploration within the neurosciences. It is available for download at http://neurongrid.homeip. net. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.