Improving biomedical research by automated behavior monitoring in the animal home-cage--COST Action TEATIME CA20135

COST Actions promote interdisciplinary networking and cooperation among researchers and innovators across Europe on a specific topic (www.cost.eu). The Action TEATIME aims to develop and use automated homecage monitoring technologies, combining experts in mouse behavior, laboratory animal science and data science, to critically and transparently assess the potential of these technologies, to develop user guidelines and standard operating procedures and to identify needs for further technological development, including analysis of big data. The Action will also contribute to building capacities for adoption of these technologies by holding workshops, laboratory rotations and disseminating knowledge. Developing refined experimental conditions can substantially improve lab animal welfare and importantly, enhance the translational value and data reproducibility. Novel and emerging technologies allow 24/7 collection of behavioral data in undisturbed mice, minimizing the impact of stressors, such as human interaction and testing in novel arenas, which are known to influence data collection and animal welfare. In addition to promoting welfare, home-cage monitoring can improve preclinical bio-medical research, advance higher success rates of translation, and may further provide valuable insights into other types of pathologies and genetic alterations. In this presentation, examples will be given on the use of home-cage monitoring systems to screen for phenotypes of neurodegenerative disease mouse models.