Publication pre-print: A novel fully automated system for lifelong continuous phenotyping of mouse cognition and behaviour

July 1, 2022

A major new UK DRI Grand Challenge project, led by Prof Karen Duff, Centre Director of the UK DRI at UCL, seeks to understand the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s, by simultaneously examining molecular and cellular changes in mice and studying the very first behavioural changes in humans at risk of the disease. Through greater understanding of the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer’s, the project could lead to the development of new biomarkers to aid in early disease detection, and therapeutics to treat the condition.

mouse

Cambridge Phenotyping presents a new fully automated AI-driven home-cage system for cognitive and behavioural phenotyping in mice. The system incorporates spontaneous alternation T-maze, novel-object recognition and object-in-place recognition tests combined with monitoring of an animal position, water consumption, quiescence and locomotion patterns, all carried out continuously and simultaneously in an unsupervised fashion over long periods of time. Mice learnt the tasks rapidly without any need for water or food restrictions.

transforming pre-clinical and basic science research on cognition and behaviour

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Best Emerging Tech nomination

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From UK Dementia Research Institute

From UK Dementia Research Institute

Just imagine that you have your mouse, which has received no training. You put it in the cage, close it up and walk away, that is it. The system does all the testing for you, 24/7, with the data put out in near real time so you can run all the analysis that same day.