Assessing the Behavior of Lab Animals

Advances in cage design and monitoring software allow the collection of more realistic data.

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Biomedical engineer David Meaney uses mouse models to study the pathophysiology and behavior deficits caused by traumatic brain injury. At lab meetings, his students love to joke about their multitasking prowess—they can crunch data while chatting with him or even when sleeping.

Their trick is software the University of Pennsylvania team wrote to analyze videos of mouse behavior 24/7. Not only does the program spare them from tedious hours of watching mice snooze or sniff, it also provides more-reliable results by eliminating variation in how different scientists score behaviors.

“Controlling behavior, ultimately, is the function of the brain,” says David Wolfer of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the University of Zurich, where he studies the neural basis of cognitive function in mouse ...

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Amber Dance
Amber Dance is an award-winning freelance science journalist based in Southern California. After earning a doctorate in biology, she re-trained in journalism as a way to engage her broad interest in science and share her enthusiasm with readers. She mainly writes about life sciences, but enjoys getting out of her comfort zone on occasion.
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