About the Core
The BCM IDDRC Neurobehavioral Core provides investigators at Baylor College of Medicine with expert consultation, access and training on many behavioral assays. We have two core facilities available, one located in the Transgenic Mouse Facility (TMF) and one in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) animal facility.
IDDRC investigators receive priority use of the equipment and training opportunities. Collaborative studies for both rat and mouse behavior are available with Dr. Samaco.
Services Available
Behavioral tests are available for a wide range of behaviors, including activity, anxiety, repetitive behaviors, motor coordination and function, sensory and sensorimotor, learning and memory, social behavior, and depression. View a full list of available assays.
Consultation: Experimental design, behavioral assays, data analysis
Training: Training for specific assays provided by expert staff
Service: Full range of behavioral analysis conducted by expert staff
Innovation: Development of novel assays for needs of investigators
Education: Workshops on various topics and data clinic, e.g. technical issues, trouble-shooting, topics in behavioral neuroscience/genetics
Information for Users
Training for and use of the core facilities is currently available free of charge to all BCM investigators. When requesting training, please follow this process:
1. Email Dr. Samaco and/or Dr. Veeraragavan several weeks before beginning your studies for a consultation. It is not necessary to have an approved animal protocol for a consultation.
2. Update your lab's IACUC animal protocol(s) to include assays to be performed and all persons performing the assays. Please contact Dr. Veeraragavan for assistance with updating animal protocols so that the approved protocol is not significantly different than the core's working protocols.
3. After your protocol is approved, email Dr. Veeraragavan your training request, preferably one to two months prior to beginning studies.
4. Once your training is complete, you will have access to the core calendars to schedule your study.
Publications
Check out our recent publications using the core
- Lu H-C*, Tan Q*, Rousseaux MWC, Kim J-Y, Wan Y-W, Yeh S-Y,...Liu Z, Schaaf CP, Zoghbi HY (2017). Loss of ATXN1-CIC complex in the brain causes intellectual disability, hyperactivity and autism. Nature Genetics. (Accepted) (*contributed equally).
- Tan Q, Krishna Yalamanchili H, Park J, De Maio A, Lu H-C, Wan Y-W,...Sillitoe RV, Orr HT, Liu Z, Zoghbi HY (2016). Extensive cryptic splicing upon loss of RBM17 and TDP43 in neurodegeneration models. Hum Mol Genet. (epub ahead of print). PMID: 28007900.
- Ure K, Lu H, Wang W, Ito-Ishida A, Wu Z, He LJ,...Tang J, and Zoghbi H (2016). Restoration of Mecp2 expression in GABAergic neurons is sufficient to rescue multiple disease features in a mouse model of Rett syndrome. eLife, Jun 21;5. PMCID: PMC4946897
- Meng X, Wang W, Lu H, He L, Chen W, Chao E, Fiorotto ML,...Tang J, Xue M, and Zoghbi HY (2016). Manipulations of MeCP2 in glutamatergic neurons highlight their contributions to Rett and other neurological disorders. eLife, Jun 21;5. PMCID: PMC4946906
- Lasagna-Reeves CA, de Haro M, Hao S, Park J, Rousseaux MWC,...Tang J, Botas J, and Zoghbi HY (2016). Reduction of Nuak1 decreases tau and reverses phenotypes in a tauopathy mouse model. Neuron, Oct 19; 92(2): 407-418. PMID: 27720485
- Yin J, Chen W, Yang H, Xue M, Schaaf CP (2017). Chrna7 deficient mice manifest no consistent neuropsychiatric and behavioral phenotypes. Sci Rep, 7:39941. PMID: 28045139
- Palmieri M, Pal R, Nelvagal HR, Lotfi P, Stinnett GR, Seymour ML,...Sardiello M (2017). mTORC1-independent TFEB activation via Akt inhibition promotes cellular clearance in neurodegenerative storage diseases. Nat. Commun, 8:14338. PMID: 28165011
- Crossland RF, Balasa A,...Van den Veyver IB (2017). Chronic Maternal Low-Protein Diet in Mice Affects Anxiety, Night-Time Energy Expenditure and Sleep Patterns, but Not Circadian Rhythm in Male Offspring. PLoS One, Jan 18;12(1): e017012. PMID: 2809947
- 9. Fountain MD, Tao H, Chen C, Yin J, Schaaf CP. Magel2 knockout mice manifest altered social phenotypes and a deficit in preference for social novelty (2017). Genes, Brain, and Behavior. (In review)
- Veeraragavan S, Wan YW, Connolly DR, Hamilton SM,...Samaco RC (2016). Loss of MeCP2 in the rat models regression, impaired sociability and transcriptional deficits of Rett syndrome. Hum Mol Genet. Aug 1;25(15): 3284-3302. PMID: 27365498
Acknowledgement
We ask that users acknowledge the IDDRC on all publications as follows:
"The project described was supported in part by the Neurobehavioral Core at Baylor College of Medicine, which is supported by IDDRC grant number P50103555 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health."
