Rodent Cognition RIC
The BrainsCAN Rodent Cognition Research and Innovation Core (RC RIC) supports, through technical staff salaries and operational costs, existing infrastructure for both conventional and advanced touchscreen-based rodent neurobehavioural experimentation at Western University. Specifically, conventional behavioural equipment and some touchscreens are housed within the Mouse Neurobehavioural Facility (MNF) (http://www.robarts.ca/neurobehavioral-core-facility) and additional touchscreens are housed within Tim Bussey and Lisa Saksida’s Translational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. The RC RIC will also maintain breeding pairs of specific mouse lines for use by BrainsCAN-aligned researchers. A goal of the RC RIC is to develop experimental platforms for understanding the role of brain circuits in cognition, which can then be used (by BrainsCAN-aligned researchers) to test efficacy and delineate mechanisms of action of potential therapies for cognitive deficits.
RIC Contact Information:
Tim Bussey
Director, Rodent Cognition RIC
BrainsCAN, Western University
tbussey@uwo.ca
Tim Bussey and Lisa Saksida have established a series of targeted cognitive tests for animals, administered via touchscreen within a custom environment known as the “Bussey-Saksida touchscreen chamber”. Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer office of the University of Cambridge, supported commercialization of the Bussey-Saksida chamber, culminating in a license to Campden Instruments. Any financial compensation received from commercialization of the technology is fully invested in further touchscreen development and/or maintenance.
