Introduction to NWB and DANDI
NWBDANDI
Learn to analyze open neurophysiology data, from the people who built the tools.
A one-week residential school for PhD students, postdocs, and faculty on analyzing NWB data from the DANDI Archive with community tools and AI methods. Free to attend, including lodging and meals.
Applications for the 2027 school are open until January 29, 2027.
5
installments
2022 to 2026
127
alumni
84
projects
32
recorded lectures
What you learn
Foundations
Open data and the tools around it
How NWB files are organized, how to find data on the DANDI Archive and stream it without downloading, and the analysis tools built on the standard, such as SpikeInterface, Pynapple, and Neurosift. The examples use large public datasets from OpenScope, the International Brain Laboratory, and MICrONS.
AI methods
Modern methods for neural data
Foundation models for neural activity, coding with large language models and AI agents, and methods for decoding and dimensionality reduction. We also cover how to check whether a method developed on one lab's recordings works on another lab's data.
Apply with a reanalysis question in mind. Teams form around shared datasets on the first day.
Mornings are lectures, afternoons are projects. Faculty and dataset stewards stay on hand all week.
Lectures and projects are published. Lectures are recorded, and project write-ups and code are posted where teams make them public.
The week at HHMI-Janelia
Everything is on campus
Participants stay in private rooms on the HHMI-Janelia campus, a few minutes' walk from the rooms where sessions run. Meals are provided, and the kitchen accommodates dietary restrictions. In the evenings participants gather at the campus pub, around the pond, and at the ping-pong table. Faculty stay on campus for the whole week.
What participants said
“I didn't know it was so easy to get started with analysing open datasets!”
“Why wait for the experiments? Use open data now!”
“Getting familiarized with open data is a critical skill for anyone who wants to think through their hypothesis before diving deep into an experimental project, or who needs to replicate results on new data. This workshop is a fantastic way to understand what data is already out there, how to use open science tools, and how to contribute yourself to the open data community.”
From the 2026 lectures
All 32 recordings
Stay in touch
Announcements about the school, future application dates, and new recordings go out a few times a year. No other mail.
Funded and hosted by
Partners and past sponsors
