A unified platform to manage, share, and archive morphological and functional data in insect neuroscience

  1. Stanley Heinze  Is a corresponding author
  2. Basil el Jundi
  3. Bente G Berg
  4. Uwe Homberg
  5. Randolf Menzel
  6. Keram Pfeiffer
  7. Ronja Hensgen
  8. Frederick Zittrell
  9. Marie Dacke
  10. Eric Warrant
  11. Gerit Pfuhl
  12. Jürgen Rybak
  13. Kevin Tedore
  1. Lund University, Sweden
  2. University of Würzburg, Germany
  3. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
  4. University of Marburg, Germany
  5. Free University, Germany
  6. UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
  7. Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany

Abstract

Insect neuroscience generates vast amounts of highly diverse data, of which only a small fraction are findable, accessible and reusable. To promote an open data culture, we have therefore developed the InsectBrainDatabase (IBdb), a free online platform for insect neuroanatomical and functional data. The IBdb facilitates biological insight by enabling effective cross-species comparisons, by linking neural structure with function, and by serving as general information hub for insect neuroscience. The IBdb allow users to not only effectively locate and visualize data, but to make them widely available for easy, automated reuse via an application programming interface. A unique private mode of the database expands the IBdb functionality beyond public data deposition, additionally providing the means for managing, visualizing and sharing of unpublished data. This dual function creates an incentive for data contribution early in data management workflows and eliminates the additional effort normally associated with publicly depositing research data.

Data availability

All data underlying the figures of the paper are freely available in the insect brain database: insectbraindb.orgAccess to the database is free and can be achieved either by browsing insectbraindb.org or by API access. Documentation see https://insectbraindb.org/static/IBdb_Userguide.pdf

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Stanley Heinze

    Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
    For correspondence
    stanley.heinze@biol.lu.se
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8145-3348
  2. Basil el Jundi

    University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Bente G Berg

    Department of Psychology, Chemosensory lab, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Uwe Homberg

    University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8229-7236
  5. Randolf Menzel

    Institut für Biologie - Neurobiologie, Free University, Berlin, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Keram Pfeiffer

    University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Ronja Hensgen

    University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. Frederick Zittrell

    University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7878-4325
  9. Marie Dacke

    Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  10. Eric Warrant

    Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7480-7016
  11. Gerit Pfuhl

    Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  12. Jürgen Rybak

    Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  13. Kevin Tedore

    Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
    Competing interests
    Kevin Tedore, Kevin Tedore is a commercial web developer (founder and owner of Kevin Tedore Interactive) whodesigned and developed all software and interfaces underlying the insect brain database..
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2722-8393

Funding

H2020 European Research Council (714599)

  • Stanley Heinze

Swedish Research Foundation (2014 - 04623)

  • Marie Dacke

H2020 European Research Council (817535)

  • Marie Dacke

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-14-1-0242)

  • Eric Warrant

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EL784/1-1)

  • Basil el Jundi

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HO 950/24-1,HO 950/25-1,HO 950/26-1)

  • Uwe Homberg

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Me365/34)

  • Randolf Menzel

Startup grant from the University of Würzburg

  • Keram Pfeiffer

Norwegian Research Council (287052)

  • Bente G Berg

Freie Universität Berlin and Zukunftskolleg University Konstanz

  • Randolf Menzel

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2021, Heinze et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Stanley Heinze
  2. Basil el Jundi
  3. Bente G Berg
  4. Uwe Homberg
  5. Randolf Menzel
  6. Keram Pfeiffer
  7. Ronja Hensgen
  8. Frederick Zittrell
  9. Marie Dacke
  10. Eric Warrant
  11. Gerit Pfuhl
  12. Jürgen Rybak
  13. Kevin Tedore
(2021)
A unified platform to manage, share, and archive morphological and functional data in insect neuroscience
eLife 10:e65376.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.65376

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.65376

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