Steffen van Heijningen
As a trained behavioral neuroscientist, I share my expertise with Noldus and in this way contribute to the scientific community. I write blogs, white papers and give talks during webinars. I live on the beautiful island of Curaçao, my home town, where I enjoy my free time on the water with my familiy and friends.
The open field test: A staple in behavioral batteries
The open field test is a locomotor, exploratory and/or anxiety test. Can we measure all these behaviors in a simple enclosed arena? This is exactly what we talk about in this blog, and the discussion surrounding this.
Scientific collaboration at its best: Home cage monitoring reviewed
The latest insights and views on home cage monitoring was reviewed by Grieco et al. A collaborative paper with an expert team on home cage behavior was published last week. This blog touches upon their findings!
A critical view on the Forced swim test
The forced swim test (FST), a staple in depression research, has been under discussion for a while. What is the FST? How is it used? And why is it under discussion? Here we share our view on this topic
What is DanioVision? A brief insight in zebrafish tracking
In this blog we provide a quick refresh on the topic of zebrafish, and how DanioVision contributes to this field.
Altruism in rats, suspiciously human
A recent study by Bartal et al drove our curiousity to write this blog about altruistic behavior in rats. This study shows how this type of behavior is neurally linkend to the social functioning of humans.
5 proven ways to measure spatial learning in rodents
What is spatial learning, why is it important and how do we measure it? Here we dive into 5 different behavioral tests that specifically measure spatial learning and memory in rodents.
Robust and reliable: Measuring anxiety in the Elevated plus maze
Screening of anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze becomes more reliable with Ethovision XT combined with the standardization of testing parameters and common practices.