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Quantifying Behavior with Excel Templates

Once you have analyzed your images and obtained results files with larvae positions, you can generate behavioral profiles using our Excel templates. There are two templates: A and B. Template A is used to organize the raw results file output by the image analysis. Template B is used to summarize the data into behavioral profiles based on treatment types, as well as combine multiple experiments into a single file for further comparisons.

You will need both templates to process your data. Choose the correct templates for the type of data you've generated from the list below.

Excel Templates

Template A Type
Excel Template A RC012621a FIJI/ImageJ
Excel Template A RC050322 Z-LaP Tracker
Template B Type
Excel Template B RC031322 FIJI/ImageJ
Excel Template B RC031322 Z-LaP Tracker

Legacy Templates

These templates are not currently used, but are associated with previous publications.

Legacy Excel Templates
Template A Type
Excel Template A RC073021 Z-LaP Tracker
Template B Type
Excel Template A RC013121 FIJI/ImageJ

Template A

  1. Find the Results.xlsx file generated by FIJI and open it. It is commonly placed in the same folder with the images you analyzed. If a pop-up appears asking if you trust the document and/or still want to open it, click yes.

  2. Open Template A. If a pop-up appears at the top announcing that you are in Protected View, click enable editing.

  3. Copy all the data from the Results file except for the headers (first row) into Template A's Experiments tab by using the paste values option (i.e. right click -> paste values).

    Paste Values

    Paste Values

    Once you've copied the data, do not click anything - Excel will take a while to calculate all the formulas and process the data and if you click, scroll, or type anywhere in the document it will stop calculating and will have to start calculating again. Be patient.

  4. You can check the progress of the calculations by looking on the bottom right corner.

  5. Once it is done calculating, click on the Groups tab.

  6. Rename the cells in the blue column according to your experimental groups. These values are in order from plate 1 - 4, rows A - H, columns 1 - 12 (i.e. Plate 1 A1, Plate 1 A2, Plate 1 A3,..., etc).

  7. Go to the Summary tab and check that your data looks correct. Each row should have a treatment group and 10 (FIJI data) or 25 (Z-LaP Tracker data) columns of values.

Template B

  1. Open Template B. If a pop-up appears at the top announcing that you are in Protected View, click enable editing.

  2. Copy the data in the Summary tab and paste it using the paste values option in Template B's Data tab.

  3. Go to the Groups tab in Template B and type in each of your treatment groups. The names are case sensitive, so they need to be exactly the same as the ones you typed in Template A's Groups tab.

    It is recommended that you type DMSO as your first treatment group because you will be comparing every other treatment against your DMSO controls.

  4. Go to the Averages tab and confirm that all your treatment groups are present.

  5. Go to the Differences tab and examine your results. Congratulations!