Channelpedia: an integrative and interactive database for ion channels

Ion channels are membrane proteins that selectively conduct ions across the cell membrane. The flux of ions through ion channels drives electrical and biochemical processes in cells and plays a critical role in shaping the electrical properties of neurons. During the past three decades,extensive research has been carried out to characterize the molecular, structural and biophysical properties of ion channels. This research has begun to elucidate the role of ion channels in neuronal function and has subsequently led to the development of computational models of ion channel function. Although there have been substantial efforts to consolidate these findings into easily accessible and coherent online resources, a single comprehensive resource is still lacking. The success of these initiatives has been hindered by the sheer diversity of approaches and the variety in data formats. Here, we present Channelpedia (http://www.Channelpedia.net) which is designed to store information related to ion channels and models and is characterized by an efficient information management framework. Composed of a combination of a database and a wiki like discussion platform Channelpedia allows researchers to collaborate and synthesize ion channel information from literature. Equipped to automatically update references, Channelpedia integrates and highlights recent publications with relevant information in the database. It is web based, freely accessible and currently contains 187 annotated ion channels with 45 Hodgkin-Huxley models

The Neocortical Microcircuit Collaboration Portal: A Resource for Rat Somatosensory Cortex

We have established a multi-constraint, data-driven process to digitally reconstruct, and simulate prototypical neocortical microcircuitry, using sparse experimental data. We applied this process to reconstruct the microcircuitry of the somatosensory cortex in juvenile rat at the cellular and synaptic levels. The resulting reconstruction is broadly consistent with current knowledge about the neocortical microcircuit and provides an array of predictions on its structure and function. To engage the community in exploring, challenging, and refining the reconstruction, we have developed a collaborative, internet-accessible facility-the Neocortical Microcircuit Collaboration portal (NMC portal; https://bbp.epfl.ch/nmc-portal). The NMC portal allows users to access the experimental data used in the reconstruction process, download cellular and synaptic models, and analyze the predicted properties of the microcircuit: six layers, similar to 31,000 neurons, 55 morphological types, 11 electrical types, 207 morpho-electrical types, 1941 unique synaptic connection types between neurons of specific morphological types, predicted properties for the anatomy and physiology of similar to 40 million intrinsic synapses. It also provides data supporting comparison of the anatomy and physiology of the reconstructed microcircuit against results in the literature. The portal aims to catalyzee consensus on the cellular and synaptic organization of neocortical microcircuitry (ion channel, neuron and synapse types and distributions, connectivity, etc.). Community feedback will contribute to refined versions of the reconstruction to be released periodically. We consider that the reconstructions and the simulations they enable represent a major step in the development of in silica neuroscience