NEST Tutorials
EBRAINS Swedish Node Workshop, Stockholm, 26/08/25
From single-cell modeling to large-scale network dynamics with NEST Simulator
Instructor: Sebastian Spreizer, PhD, University of Trier and Research Center Jülich
The tutorial is composed of three parts in which the user learns to simulate with NEST step by step.
Time schedule
| 10 - 10.30 | Introduction | |
| 10.30 - 12 | NEST Desktop | https://nest-desktop.readthedocs.org/ |
| 13 - 14.30 | NEST Simulator | https://nest-simulator.readthedocs.org/ |
| 15 - 16.30 | NESTML | https://nestml.readthedocs.org/ |
How to run NEST tutorials on EBRAINS lab?
- Change drive folder to `/drive/My Libraries/`.
Next, clone a repo from the remote Git repository "https://gitlab.ebrains.eu/spreizer/nest-tutorials-2025.git" (See red arrow).
After cloning, you can find tutorials in respective folders.
When you start a notebook, select kernel: "EBRAINS-25.02" (or later).
- Have fun with it!
Modules
1) NEST Desktop
The first part of the tutorial, we look at NEST Desktop. As a goal we will create and analyze a balanced two-population network.
https://nest-desktop.apps.ebrains.eu/
More information: https://wiki.ebrains.eu/bin/view/Collabs/nest-desktop
2) NEST Simulator
The tutorial will then turn to Jupyter (Python) notebooks where we will start by creating spiking neurons. Here, we learn advanced steps to write code with NEST Simulation syntax. The scripting codes allow us to customize sophisticated use cases with NEST simulations. How to run examples on EBRAINS lab can be found here:
More examples: https://wiki.ebrains.eu/bin/view/Collabs/nest-simulator-examples/
3) NESTML
The last part is using NESTML to create custom neuron and synapse models for NEST Simulator. This will be done by formulating the learning model in the NESTML language syntax, and using the associated toolchain to generate code for NEST Simulator.
More tutorials: https://wiki.ebrains.eu/bin/view/Collabs/nestml-tutorials
