In collaboration with the Totah lab at the University of Helsinki, we are developing REMY, a set of tools that enable complex behavioral experiments with head-fixed, behaving rats on a treadmill/VR setup. We are also modifying those tools to enable awake brain imaging in MRI scanners.

Head fixation methods for mice freely running on a wheel/treadmill have proven revolutionary in systems neuroscience (e.g. Dombeck et al 2010, Saleem et al. 2013 Poort et al. 2022). They provide the necessary stability to utilize cutting-edge technologies for recording neuronal activity while animals perform behavioral tasks, including in virtual reality environments. Head fixation also enables more accurate ways to monitor eye movements and facial expressions (for experimental and welfare purposes), and better control over the animal's sensory input, when compared to freely moving experiments.

Rats are capable of more complex behaviors while enabling higher–density neuronal recordings than mice. Yet due to their size and the strength that comes with it, head fixation has so far required highly restrictive fixation methods that prevent the animal from moving, let alone running naturally in a virtual reality environment.