eFEL: electrophysiology feature extraction library

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Authors: Darshan Mandge, Anil Tuncel, Aurélien Tristan Jaquier, İlkan Kılıç, Tanguy Damart, Henry Markram, Werner Van Geit, Rajnish Ranjan
Cited by: 1
References: 37

Abstract

MOTIVATION: Electrophysiological recordings are essential in experimental and computational neuroscience, providing insights into neuronal excitability and network behaviour. Extracting features such as action potential thresholds, widths, and firing patterns is conceptually straightforward, but in practice it is complicated by heterogeneous datasets and software environments, which hinder reproducibility and interoperability. A standardized, efficient, and portable framework is needed to ensure consistent analysis across platforms and alignment with community data standards. RESULTS: We present the Electrophysiology Feature Extraction Library (eFEL), a cross-platform, open-source library that implements standardized definitions for over 90 electrophysiological features. eFEL combines a high-performance C++ core with a Python interface, supporting customizable feature dependencies, caching, and parallelization. It integrates with community standards such as Neurodata Without Borders and works seamlessly with common electrophysiology formats and simulation environments. Since its initial release in 2015, eFEL has been used in published studies spanning single-cell analysis, model optimization, multimodal fitting, and circuit simulations. eFEL provides a FAIR-compliant, versatile resource for reproducible electrophysiological data analysis. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The eFEL library is publicly available at https://github.com/openbraininstitute/eFEL and the associated study data and scripts have been deposited in Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/records/17241835.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Neural dynamics and brain function Zebrafish Biomedical Research Applications Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics

Publication details

Journal / source
Bioinformatics
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Volume
42
Issue
6
Publication date
20 May 2026
Language
EN