Spyglass: a framework for reproducible and shareable neuroscience research.

Scientific progress depends on reliable and reproducible results. Progress can also be accelerated when data are shared and re-analyzed to address new questions. Current approaches to storing and analyzing neural data typically involve bespoke formats and software that make replication, as well as the subsequent reuse of data, difficult if not impossible. To address these challenges, we created Spyglass, an open-source software framework that enables reproducible analyses and sharing of data and both intermediate and final results within and across labs. Spyglass uses the Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) standard and includes pipelines for several core analyses in neuroscience, including spectral filtering, spike sorting, pose tracking, and neural decoding. It can be easily extended to apply both existing and newly developed pipelines to datasets from multiple sources. We demonstrate these features in the context of a cross-laboratory replication by applying advanced state space decoding algorithms to publicly available data. New users can try out Spyglass on a Jupyter Hub hosted by HHMI and 2i2c: https://spyglass.hhmi.2i2c.cloud/.

Maternal repetitive hypoxia prior to mating confers epigenetic resilience to memory impairment in male progeny.

We showed previously in a mouse model of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia involving chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) that repetitive hypoxic conditioning (RHC) of both parents results in the epigenetic, intergenerational transmission of resilience to recognition memory loss in adult progeny, as assessed by the novel object recognition test. The present study was undertaken in the same model to determine whether RHC treatment of one or both parents is required to confer dementia resilience intergenerationally. We found inherited resilience to 3 months of CCH in males is maternally mediated (p = .006). Statistically, we observed a strong trend for the paternal germline to contribute as well (p = .052). We also found that, in contrast to what is widely observed in males, females display intact recognition memory (p = .001) after 3 months of CCH, revealing a heretofore unidentified sexual dimorphism with respect to cognitive impact during disease progression. Overall, results of our study strongly implicate epigenetic changes in maternal germ cells, induced by our repetitive systemic hypoxic stimulus, contributing to a modified differentiation program capable of establishing a dementia-resilient phenotype in adult male first-generation progeny. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).