Molecular Tools for Behavioural Neuroscience Research

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McCormick (hired July 2004), Duarte-Guterman (hired Jan 2021), and Raineki (hired Jan 2021) form the Behavioural Neuroscience Group in the Psychology Dept at Brock University. We are building a collaborative research environment based on our overlapping interest in investigating how life experiences shape neural and behavioural development. The long-term objective of McCormick's research program is to understand normative development in adolescence and the enduring consequences of activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in adolescence for behaviour and physiological function in adulthood in both male and female rats. The long-term research objective of the Duarte-Guterman lab is to elucidate how neural circuits are remodelled in both sexes and with parental experience and its implications for behaviour across the lifespan in rats and degus. Raineki's research program uses a translational approach to investigate the role that the immune system plays in brain development and behavioural function later in life in rats and people. The funds requested through this NSERC RTI is for molecular equipment to support research in their laboratories. They require a real-time PCR (qPCR) machine to measure targeted gene expression and a gel documentation system to measure protein levels (Western blots). Increased demands on the equipment in the Biological Sciences Department necessitates that the Psychology Department have its own qPCR equipment. Further, McCormick's gel documentation system, equipment used extensively by all three PI's students, is no longer functional. Support equipment is required to determine quantity and quality of nucleic acids and proteins (nanodrop, Qubit, thermal cycler). Over the next five years, it is estimated that a minimum of 75 students will make use and rely on this equipment (each year 3-6 new graduate students and 9 - 12 undergraduate students) and will support NSERC-funded research in the Behavioural Neuroscience Group. All three PIs have a strong commitment to EDI and to the recruitment of under-represented groups to their laboratories. In addition to providing valuable training to students, the research will produce fundamental insights into the environmental factors that influence development and the means by which these effects are achieved.