We help research institutions focus on science, not servers.
Squirrel Research LLC was founded on a simple premise: research teams shouldn't have to become IT operations experts just to manage their data. We handle the hosting, security, maintenance, and backups so that neuroscientists, psychologists, and clinical researchers can spend their time on what matters — advancing human knowledge.
We are a Connecticut limited liability company with deep roots in the neuroinformatics community. Our hosted service is built on NiDB, the open-source Neuroinformatics Database developed by researchers for researchers.
Like a squirrel storing acorns for the future, we're here to make sure your data is safe, organized, and ready when you need it.
We take the open-source NiDB platform and deliver it as a fully managed, production-ready service.
We provision and manage dedicated NiDB instances on Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services, sized to your institution's needs.
We apply security best practices — encryption, access controls, patching, and monitoring — so your data stays protected. We are transparent about what we do and don't cover.
We keep NiDB and the underlying infrastructure up to date so you always benefit from the latest features and security fixes without any operational burden.
Our support team has hands-on experience with NiDB and can help with everything from initial setup and data import to user provisioning and troubleshooting.
The open-source platform at the heart of our service.
NiDB (Neuroinformatics Database) is a community-developed, open-source platform for managing, sharing, and analyzing neuroimaging and related research data. It was designed by researchers who needed a practical, scalable solution for multi-site studies, longitudinal data collection, and pipeline integration.
Key capabilities of NiDB include:
We're upfront about what our service does and doesn't do — including being clear that the Service is not HIPAA compliant and is not suitable for storing Protected Health Information.
We give back to the NiDB open-source community. Improvements we make to the platform are contributed upstream so all NiDB users benefit.
Your data belongs to you. Export it at any time in standard formats. We don't hold your data hostage, and we'll help you migrate if you ever need to.