STEM models

The STEM (STructured Experimental Metadata) models form the core structure of the BrainSTEM data management system. These models provide a flexible and comprehensive framework for organizing and describing neuroscience experiments.

• Project: Projects serve as the highest-level organizational unit, grouping related subjects, datasets, and collections. They define overall permissions and can be used to organize experiments for publications or day-to-day research activities.

• Subject: Animal subjects are described by essential attributes such as name, sex, species, and strain. Subjects must belong to one or more projects and can be associated with various procedures.

• Session: Sessions are modular constructs that provide standardized descriptions of various aspects of experiments. They are composed of four main modules: Behavior, Data acquisition, Manipulations, and Epochs. Sessions must belong to one or more projects.

• Collection: Collections allow for grouping datasets within a project. They can be used to organize datasets for specific analyses or figures. All datasets in a collection must belong to the same project.

• Cohort: Cohorts enable organization of subjects into meaningful groups based on shared characteristics, experimental conditions, or timeframes. These groupings facilitate comparative analyses and help track subjects across related studies within a project.