NEURON 2026 Summer Course

The 2026 NEURON Summer Course

Location: Duke University, Durham, NC
Dates: Wednesday, June 10, through Monday, June 15, 2026
Faculty: Ted Carnevale, Robert A. McDougal, and guest speakers TBA
Application deadline: Monday, June 1, 2026

This intensive multi-day course is designed for those who are planning to use NEURON in neuroscience research or teaching, or already have active projects that involve NEURON. It is suitable for users at all levels of expertise, presenting what you need to know to build and work with models of individual neurons and networks of neurons, and includes an introduction to simulation on parallel hardware.

• Beginners with little or no modeling experience will learn not only the technical aspects of modeling but also its philosophical basis and scientific rationale.
• Intermediate users will learn the best approaches to common tasks, and how to use special features of NEURON in their own work.
• Experienced users will benefit from an update on new features and a review of important topics that may have escaped their attention when they first started using NEURON.

Each day of this course will run from 9 AM to 5 PM, with lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on exercises, and will end with a wrapup session. Afternoons will include free time for participants to work on exercises or projects of their own choosing, with expert help near at hand. There will also be two or three optional evening sessions to address topics of special interest which may arise during the daytime sessions.

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Registration

Space is limited, and applications will be considered in the order received. The application deadline is Monday, June 1, 2026 at 5 PM New York time. No applications will be accepted after that date, and there will be no on-site registration.

If your application is accepted, you will receive instructions for how to pay the course's registration fee. The fee for this course is $750, which covers the cost of printed materials and instructor travel. Payment must be completed by Monday, June 1, 2026 at 5 PM New York time.

Apply here: https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d73BfVF2iiiWZp4

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Topics

The NEURON Summer Course provides a comprehensive introduction to the design and construction of models of individual neurons and networks of neurons. It includes:

• Model specification with hoc, Python, and NEURON's GUI.
• Importing Neurolucida and other morphometric data formats via Python and the Import3D tool.
• Adding new biophysical mechanisms with NMODL and the Channel Builder.
• Multiscale modeling using RxD for reaction-diffusion.
• Using the Model View tool to analyze and understand models created by yourself and others.
• Integration methods:
  • accuracy, stability, and computational efficiency
  • fixed timestep vs. global and local adaptive integration—which method to use, and how to use it
• Introduction to using parallel hardware to speed up simulations of cells and networks.
• Customizing the GUI for simulation control and analysis of results.
• Managing modeling projects.

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Faculty

The course faculty includes Ted Carnevale, Robert A. McDougal, and guest speakers TBA. All are leaders in the development and application of simulation tools for biologically realistic modeling, and have participated in courses and workshops on NEURON at annual meetings of the Society for Neuroscience and other venues. The NEURON Summer Course draws on their experience and is revised each year to address the evolving needs of users and new features of NEURON.

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Equipment

Each participant is expected to bring a wifi-capable laptop computer. This will allow everyone to work in a familiar hardware/software environment, be it MSWin, Linux, or macOS.

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Travel and Accommodations

Participants must make their own arrangements for transportation, accommodations, and meals. Dining facilities are available on campus and at nearby restaurants. There are many options for lodging near the campus, such as hotels, Airbnb etc.

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How does this course differ from others that we offer?

The NEURON Summer Course is a multi-day, intensive experience that addresses a wide range of topics. It is the best choice for those who have already decided to use NEURON in their research. It combines interactive didactic presentations, supervised hands-on exercises that challenge participants to use what they are learning, and time for work on exercises and individual projects.

We also offer short courses on NEURON at various venues. For example, our one day courses at Society for Neuroscience meetings present an "executive summary" of key features of NEURON, plus many practical tips for developing and using models. That can be particularly useful for PIs who are thinking about including computational modeling in their research and wondering what software to use. It is also a good choice for those who are eager to get started quickly and prefer not to wait for the summer course. That said, our short courses generally rely completely on didactic presentations and demonstrations, since time and cost constraints preclude hands-on activities.

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About NEURON

NEURON is designed for empirically-based neural modeling of biological neurons and networks, and is particularly well-suited for use by experimentalists. It also handles models of artificial spiking neurons, which are simulated with an extremely efficient discrete event method. Network models may contain any combination of biophysical and artificial spiking model cells. More than 3000 scientific publications have reported work that involved NEURON (see list at https://www.neuronsimulator.org/en/latest/publications-using-neuron.html)

NEURON is available free of charge from https://neuronsimulator.org . It runs on all leading computational platforms from workstations and PCs (UNIX/Linux/macOS and MSWindows) to supercomputers. Simulations can take advantage of parallel hardware ranging from multiple core PCs and Macs to workstation clusters and massively parallel supercomputer hardware.

NEURON was created by Michael Hines and John Moore at Duke University, and has been actively supported ever since. To help meet the evolving needs of neuroscientists, it uses an open source development model (code hosted at GitHub), with Michael playing a key role along with team members at Yale (Robert McDougal, Ted Carnevale) and other research institutions around the world.

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Application form: https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d73BfVF2iiiWZp4