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Noldus to develop new technology for automated behavioral phenotyping | |
Neuro-Bsik Mouse Phenomics project takes off to define novel mouse models for brain disorders. | |
Wageningen, 30 January 2004 - A consortium of leading neuroscience institutes and corporations, including Noldus Information Technology, has launched a major research initiative named “Neuro-Bsik Mouse Phenomics: defining novel mouse models for brain disorders”. The project will develop a new knowledge infrastructure that combines intelligent screening of mutant mice with subsequent in-depth analyses of selected lines. Noldus Information Technology, in close association with scientists at Utrecht University, will develop a new system for automated behavioral phenotyping of mice in the home cage. The 4-year project, with a total budget of 26 million euro, has received 50% funding from the Dutch government’s BSIK program. The other half of the budget is invested by the consortium partners. | |
Brain disorders | |
Brain disorders are recognized as the most expensive and disabling diseases of the new century. The impact on the quality of life is arguably larger than for any other class of diseases and the economic burden of absenteeism and discontinued employability is formidable. Despite the enormous potential of the world market, pharmaceutical companies have typically had little success in developing treatments. The analysis of how brain diseases develop and how such developments may be counteracted is frustrated by our limited understanding of the human brain and its poor accessibility for investigation. Studies on rodent model organisms have made crucial contributions to our current understanding of the brain and can be used to investigate many aspects of human brain disease. In contrast to humans, brains of model organisms can be accessed and challenged and we can analyze how diseases develop and might be treated. Consortium leader Chris de Zeeuw comments: “Due to the revolution in transgenesis and biotechnology of the past decades we are now entering the post-genomics era in which many new mouse mutants will become available. This includes mutants showing brain disorders that mimic those of humans in terms of both genotype and phenotype, so this development provides an excellent opportunity to create new directions in studying the human brain and its disorders and to create significant new economic activities in the biomedical-pharmaceutical sector.” | |
Mouse phenotyping | |
The consortium plans to specifically select mutants that exhibit behavioral abnormalities relevant for human brain diseases. Subsequently, the selected mice can be analyzed in depth using all the typical advantages of this model organism. In order for this approach to be scientifically and economically successful, the consortium will develop powerful, automated yet intelligent screening procedures, that are currently not available, to select relevant mutants. Due to the complexity of the brain, analyzing these animals will involve multiple, complex and interconnected investigations at different levels ranging from studies of individual nerve cells to behavior. | |
Automated screening in home cage | |
The consortium will set up a new knowledge infrastructure that combines intelligent screening of mice with subsequent in-depth analyses of selected mutants. The technical R&D is in the hands of Noldus Information Technology, in close collaboration with long-standing development partner Berry Spruijt at Utrecht University. Berry Spuijt comments: “We aim to replace current one-dimensional and rather artificial screening protocols by a new automated home cage technology that will allow investigation of mutants in an enriched environment, such that more interacting behavioral systems are simultaneously activated. This is biologically more relevant and thus allows optimal detection of behavioral disorders. Instead of bringing the animal to the experimental test, the tests are introduced into the animal’s home cage, preventing stress from handling and transport and allowing long-term observations. This new technology will not only be faster and cheaper but also more reliable, complete, and animal-friendly.” The subsequent in-depth analyses of underlying neuropathological mechanisms will occur for selected mutants at the cellular, microcircuitry and systems level with advanced high-tech methods and instruments. In conjunction, the novel analysis methods and instruments are expected to grow into an internationally accepted standard and to generate significant economic benefits by yielding new, well characterized models for known and hidden human brain diseases as well as novel drug targets. | |
National partnership | |
The consortium consists of five Dutch scientific research institutes and two commercial companies. The participating neuroscience groups are recognized as leaders in the international field of phenotyping rodent models, and as a whole they cover the entire spectrum from peripheral disorders and motor systems to cognition and memory dysfunctions.
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Contact for more information: R.A.J. Tegelenbosch | |
