Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience Research Cores for High throughput, Automated and Longitudinal Monitoring of Rodents Behaviour and Brain Activity

我们要求提供下列功能相关的单位，它们共同提供基础，以建立和组装家庭内培训过程自动化、长期监测大脑活动和动物行为以及自动数据存储和分析所需的定制工具。动物行为的研究对于我们理解大脑在健康和疾病中的功能至关重要。研究行为背后的神经机制需要训练动物完成控制良好的任务.目前，这一过程是在研究人员的密切监督下完成的，他们经常在动物的基础上修改协议和程序，以提高学习率和表现。该策略是一个耗时且劳动密集型的过程，并且是收集和管理大量数据的主要限制，这些数据在密度（更高数量的动物，以及对每只动物的更长观察时间）和行为空间内的扩展（更大种类的任务和条件）方面都是如此。此外，由于在动物训练和数据分析期间不可避免的实验者和环境因素引起的变异性，它降低了发现的再现性。为了克服这一限制，我们计划开发一种设备，使一个定制的廉价的计算机控制系统的高通量监测大脑活动和动物的行为和数据分析。我们的计划包括以下内容：（1）自动化饲养笼内的训练过程并监测动物行为;（2）脑活动的介观（群体活动）功能成像;（3）自动化行为和神经活动数据分析。我们预计，用于高通量纵向监测啮齿动物行为和大脑活动的智能家居平台将有助于基础和转化生物科学的广泛研究，特别是它将有助于研究人类疾病遗传模型中的行为表型，以及将行为异常与其潜在的遗传和神经原因联系起来。

We are requesting the following functionally related units, which together provide the basis to build and assemble custom--made tools necessary for automation of training processes within the homecage, long--term monitoring of brain activity and animal behaviours, and automated data storage and analysis. The study of animal behaviour is essential in our effort to understand brain function in health and disease. Addressing the neural mechanisms underlying behaviours requires training animals in well- controlled tasks. Currently, this process is done under close supervision of researchers who frequently modify protocols and procedures on an animal by animal basis to improve learning rates and performance. This strategy is a time consuming and labor intensive process and is a major constraint in collecting and managing large volumes of data both in density (higher number of animals, and longer observations of each animal) and in extension within behavioural space (larger variety of tasks and conditions). In addition, it reduces the reproducibility of finding due to unavoidable experimenter and environmental factors induced variability during both animal training and data analysis. To overcome this constraint, we plan to develop a facility to make a custom--made inexpensive computer--controlled system for high--throughput monitoring of brain activity and animals behaviour and data analysis. Our plan consists of the following: (1) Automation of training processes within the home cage and monitoring animal behaviour; (2) Mesoscopic (population activity) functional imaging of brain activity; (3) Automation of behavioural and neural activity data analysis. We anticipate that smart homecage platforms for high-throughput longitudinal monitoring of rodents behaviour and Brain Activity will be useful for a wide range of studies in basic and translational biological science , and in particular it will be useful for studying behavioral phenotypes in genetic models of human disorders, and for relating behavioral abnormalities to their underlying genetic and neural causes.