Rat Mouse training facility
Expired
The competition has expired without a winner being announced.
The University of Groningen (the UG) requires Bussey-Saksida Touchscreen Systems (BSTS) for training rats and mice to achieve complex cognitive abilities that resemble performance of humans. Each required system (one for rats and one for mice) includes software and hardware necessary for species-specific task acquisition, along with camera equipment to monitor each animal. Conventional behavioural tests cannot be used to assess high-level cognitive abilities in these animals, which is why the UG must use these systems so that neurobiological and medical studies on laboratory rodents can more directly reproduce what is expected in humans. The BSTS systems are instruments that are used for automated behavioural training of cognitive tasks administered on a touch-sensitive screen. To limit stress and distraction, the tasks are administered in a sound-attenuated chamber, and the desired behavior is rewarded. The screen provides stimuli in the form of white light, or two-dimensional shapes, and depending on the task, time to make contact with the screen and/or accuracy with making contact on a particular location of the screen is recorded by the system computer. When the rodent performs the desired behavior, they are rewarded with food/liquid. The proprietary software provides the training in preset stages and records when each animal proceeds to the next step. Given the versatility with having multiple options for cognitive tasks, these chambers can be used by several researchers involved in different aspects of neuroscience and medicine. The systems are developed separately for rats and mice, the two most common laboratory rodents in neuroscience research. Thus, the touchscreen systems the UG requires include a separate system for each species.
About the bid
- Contact name
- Esther Arends
- Contact phone
- +31653239942
- Contact email
- e.r.arends@rug.nl
- Address
- Broerstraat 5, 9712CP Groningen
The University of Groningen (the UG) requires Bussey-Saksida Touchscreen Systems (BSTS) for training rats and mice to achieve complex cognitive abilities that resemble performance of humans. Each required system (one for rats and one for mice) includes software and hardware necessary for species-specific task acquisition, along with camera equipment to monitor each animal. Conventional behavioural tests cannot be used to assess high-level cognitive abilities in these animals, which is why the UG must use these systems so that neurobiological and medical studies on laboratory rodents can more directly reproduce what is expected in humans. The BSTS systems are instruments that are used for automated behavioural training of cognitive tasks administered on a touch-sensitive screen. To limit stress and distraction, the tasks are administered in a sound-attenuated chamber, and the desired behavior is rewarded. The screen provides stimuli in the form of white light, or two-dimensional shapes, and depending on the task, time to make contact with the screen and/or accuracy with making contact on a particular location of the screen is recorded by the system computer. When the rodent performs the desired behavior, they are rewarded with food/liquid. The proprietary software provides the training in preset stages and records when each animal proceeds to the next step. Given the versatility with having multiple options for cognitive tasks, these chambers can be used by several researchers involved in different aspects of neuroscience and medicine. The systems are developed separately for rats and mice, the two most common laboratory rodents in neuroscience research. Thus, the touchscreen systems the UG requires include a separate system for each species.
Custom Assessment Criteria
Start a free trial to ask your own questions about the tender and get AI-generated answers.
Award Criteria
Found no award criteria in the contract notice.
Qualification requirements
Found no qualification requirements in the contract notice.
Previous Contract Winners
Start a free trial to see who has won similar tenders for this buyer.
See the full notice
- Contracting authority
- Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- Title
- Rat Mouse training facility
- Type
- Main code
- Supplemental codes
- Estimated value
- €85,000.00
No supplemental codes from buyer…