An Open Access Resource for Marmoset Neuroscientific Apparatus

Abstract

The use of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) for neuroscientific inquiry has grown precipitously over the past two decades. Despite windfalls of grant support from funding initiatives in North America, Europe, and Asia to model human brain diseases in the marmoset, marmoset- specific apparatus are of sparse availability from commercial vendors and thus are often developed and reside within individual laboratories. Through our collective research efforts, we have designed and vetted myriad designs for awake or anesthetized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), as well as focused ultrasound (FUS), electrophysiology, optical imaging, surgery, and behavior in marmosets across the age- span. This resource makes these designs openly available, reducing the burden of de novo development across the marmoset field. The computer-aided-design (CAD) files are publicly available through the Marmoset Brain Connectome (MBC) resource (https://www.marmosetbrainconnectome.org/apparatus/) and include dozens of downloadable CAD assemblies, software and online calculators for marmoset neuroscience. In addition, we make available a variety of vetted touchscreen and task-based fMRI code and stimuli. Here, we highlight the online interface and the development and validation of a few yet unpublished resources: Software to automatically extract the head morphology of a marmoset from a CT and produce a 3D printable helmet for awake neuroimaging, and the design and validation of 8-channel and 14- channel receive arrays for imaging deep structures during anatomical and functional MRI.