Traditional laboratory housing and testing conditions are minimalistic and unlike natural environments, which can limit behavioral variability and reduce the relevance of brain data.

This project aims to improve translatability by creating a semi-naturalistic, enclosed habitat for rodents that combines housing and testing areas, advanced tracking (DeepLabCut), and machine learning.

The goal is to use natural daily behaviors for disease model phenotyping, alongside standard tests for validation. The project also includes a secondment at University of Copenhagen for broader discussions and the development of outreach materials on animal research.

This project will be primarily hosted at Radboud University, and secondments are planned at Sara at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Porto with Patricia.

You can find out more about Lisa’s research here: www.genzellab.com