Experimental behavior technologies and animal training

The Experimental Behavior Technologies and Animal Training service project provides the mechanisms and resources for producing state-of-the-art behavioral systems, which are developed in close conjunction with individual CRC projects. The systems are designed to minimize experimenter interference and increase efficiency in freely moving as well as head-fixed animals and include virtual reality as well as operant- and maze- based systems. A major focus of the C02 project in this funding period is the facilitation of cross-species research approaches within the CRC to target closely related research questions synergistically. To this end C02 will provide tasks for mice and drosophila, that are comparable to the human tasks used within the CRC to study memory consolidation across development in children and spatial memory consolidation following propofol anesthesia.

Image Experimental set-up. Courtesy of York Winter

Archive – C02 (SFB1315/1)

Graphical abstract: Work packages (WPs) of the C02 project. WPs 1–2 focus on the implementation of automated rodent
training. WPs 3−5 will provide behavioral setups to investigate the role of schema learning in memory consolidation in a
cross-species approach. WPs 6–8 focus on the implementation of state-of-the art technology for different CRC members.
On the right-hand side, the specific CRC projects for which these services are provided, as well as links between different
WPs and the species involved are depicted.