Making databases about the brain more usable and accessible for neuroscientists worldwide
Neurodata Without Borders: Neurophysiology
Neurodata Without Borders: Neurophysiology (NWB:N) is a project to develop a unified data format for cellular-based neurophysiology data, focused on the dynamics of groups of neurons measured under a large range of experimental conditions. The NWB:N team consists of neuroscientists and software developers who recognize that adoption of a unified data format is an important step toward breaking down the barriers to data sharing in neuroscience.
NWB:N is funded by GE, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), The Kavli Foundation and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility. Our founding scientific partners are the Allen Institute, the Svoboda Lab at the Janelia Research Campus of HHMI, the Meister Lab at the California Institute of Technology, the Buzsáki Lab at New York University School of Medicine and the University of California, Berkeley.

(Courtesy of the Allen Institute for Brain Science)
The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative was launched by President Obama in 2013 to advance the science and technologies needed to unlock the mysteries of the human brain. It is a broad, collaborative effort to accelerate the development and application of a new generation of tools to study how individual brain cells and complex neural circuits interact at the speed of thought. These new technologies will help scientists explore how the brain records, processes, uses, stores and retrieves information and will shed light on the complex links between brain structure, function and behavior.
The projects funded by the BRAIN Initiative are producing massive quantities of data. However, the full benefits of these data will not be realized if they cannot be easily shared, pooled and analyzed. That’s where Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) comes in. By standardizing neuroscience data, NWB can help ensure that the goals of the BRAIN Initiative and other large-scale neuroscience projects will be met.
Latest News & Updates
NWB 2.0 Beta Released
A first public beta release of NWB:N 2.0 is available for SfN. The intent of…
VIDEO | Neurodata Without Borders: Breaking down the barriers to data sharing in neuroscience
Neurodata Without Borders is helping to accelerate brain research by making it easier to share…
NWB Continues To Grow
An article by the Simons Foundation by Emily Singer highlights the upcoming release of NWB…