
Prof. Berry Spruijt says goodbye (but not really)
Prof. Dr. Berry M. Spruijt recently retired from his position at Utrecht University. I had the honor of attending the symposium that was organized to reflect on and celebrate his career.

Video-tracking the effect of influenza infection on ferrets
Ferrets are the ideal animal model to assess influenza virus infection and pathogenicity as they display similar clinical symptoms to humans such as sneezing, fever and lethargy.

10 behavioral studies on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
This blog post features 10 interesting studies that use innovative techniques to study models of AD and PD and important underlying neuronal mechanisms.

How Ginkgo biloba helps treat Alzheimer’s
Xu Liu and colleagues recently investigated the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract on a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Motivation and eating: deep brain imaging in freely moving mice
Craving a snack, the joy of eating it. The part of our brain that regulates this is the lateral hypothalamus. An interesting targer for addiction and eating disorder research.

How autistic fruit flies behave
The number of children diagnosed with developmental disorders has increased exponentially in the past 20 yearschemicals such as BPA have been under investigation lately.

Side effects of L-DOPA investigated in parkinsonian rats
These studies specifically investigate the long-term effects of L-DOPA or levopoda, a common clinical treatment for Parkinson's disease, with which many patients struggle.

How young zebrafish cope with stress
Stress is a natural thing, and how we cope with it differs from person to person. In research, we use the term coping style, something that emerges early on in life for zebrafish.

A high-throughput method to screen natural behavior of mice
Traditional standard tests with rats or mice are carried out immediately after human interference. Therefore, the behavior of the animals may not be natural and spontaneous.

Inhibitory avoidance learning in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly being used as model in behavioural, neurobiological and genetic research.