Neuropixels 1.0

Announced in 2017, Neuropixels probes transformed neurophysiology by distributing close to 1,000 recording sites over a narrow, one-centimetre shank, and producing an output that is fully digitized. These sites record from hundreds of neurons, distributed across brain regions. 

The first generation of the probes (Neuropixels 1.0) had a single shank and 960 recording sites. The results dramatically increased the number of neurons that can be routinely recorded simultaneously. For instance, two Neuropixels probes can record simultaneously from over 500 neurons in 5 regions of the mouse brain (Jun, Steinmetz, Siegle, Denman, Bauza et al, Nature 2017). (These data are publicly available).

Neuropixels 1.0 probes were developed through a collaboration headed by Tim Harris at HHMI Janelia Research Campus together with scientists at UCL and Allen Institute for Brain Science. The collaboration was funded by a Strategic Award from the Wellcome Trust and by funds from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Allen Institute, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The UCL team included Principal Investigators John O’Keefe, Kenneth Harris, and Matteo Carandini, and postdocs Nicholas Steinmetz, Marius Bauza, and Marius Pachitariu.The probes are designed and fabricated by imec, the nanoelectronics research center. 

The results of the work were published in 2017 (Jun, Steinmetz, Siegle, Denman, Bauza et al, Nature 2017). The probes were released in 2019 and are available at cost price at www.neuropixels.org.