Behavioral Phenotyping Core

Welcome to the Seattle Children’s Research Institute's Behavioral Phenotyping Core (BPC), an institutional resource to enable efficient and equitable access to a state-of-the-art facility and expertise to advance collaborative, cutting-edge pediatric research.

The BPC is dedicated to the protocol driven collection, analysis, and reporting of behavioral data using a blend of classic and innovative assays. This core is designed to support a wide range of research areas, including neuroscience, psychology, pharmacology, genetics, cancer, and development by providing advanced tools and expertise for the precise measurement and interpretation of behavior.

Behavioral Phenotyping Equipment and Services

The BPC serves researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute by providing dedicated space and infrastructure to support behavioral studies from start to finish. The services provided include:

  • Staff training
  • Experimental design
  • Experimental set up
  • Behavioral tests
  • Comprehensive experimental support: creating a custom research plan that includes the number of animals required, a tailored battery of behavioral tests designed to test hypotheses and a projected timeline
  • Data analysis
  • Behavioral equipment development: creation of custom fabricated equipment tailored to specific experimental needs

The BPC provides a sophisticated platform for the deep phenotyping of model organisms, with a strategic focus on digital behavioral biomarkers and continuous home-cage monitoring. By shifting away from snapshots of behavior toward longitudinal, 24/7 observation, we provide researchers with more ethologically relevant and reproducible data.

Every behavioral test conducted within our isolated, climate-controlled testing rooms is analyzed using EthoVision XT. This industry-standard video tracking software ensures an unbiased, high-throughput quantification of behavior, eliminating the subjectivity of manual observation.

Advanced phenotyping capabilities

Our facility is equipped to capture high-resolution physiological and behavioral data across several domains:

  • Continuous Home-Cage Monitoring: High-fidelity tracking of activity, sleep, seizures, respiration and circadian rhythms using the Allentown Discovery Rack, Noldus Phenotypers and Tecniplast DVC Rack.
  • Cognitive and Social Assessment: Advanced spatial learning and social preference paradigms, including the Morris Water Maze, 3-Chamber Social Approach, Fear Conditioning, Barnes Maze and 2-Chamber Preference Tests.
  • Motor Function and Coordination: Automated gait and motor learning analysis via the Erasmus Ladder, Rotarod, Acoustic Startle With Pre-Pulse Inhibition, Geotaxis and Open Field environments.
  • Physiological and Respiratory Stress: Precise quantification of breathing and metabolic responses using Whole-Body Plethysmography, supported by Chronic Intermittent and Sustained Hypoxia Chambers.
  • Nociceptive and Reward Profiling: Objective assessment of sensory thresholds (Tail-Flick and Paw Withdrawal Latency) and motivation (Lickometers and Automated Feeders).

Request Services

Behavioral Phenotyping Core services are available to users within and outside of Seattle Children’s. Please access the Core’s iLab page for up-to-date information on instrumentation availability and to request training, equipment access and services.

Please contact [email protected] to discuss research needs and services.

Rates

Please contact [email protected] for more information about starting a project in the BPC.

Acknowledging Core Contributions

The BPC’s services and expertise are made available by the scientist/s who provide them. As such, proper acknowledgement is critical to demonstrate scientific contributions made by the BPC and its scientists. These contributions include paid technical assistance, use of equipment and space, experiment consultation, protocol development, etc. Acknowledgements in research publications, grant proposals, abstracts, presentations and posters allow the BPC to justify its funding status and ensure it can continue to provide scientific services in the future. Example acknowledgements are listed below:

  • “[Behavioral assay, etc.] was performed by the Behavioral Phenotyping Core (RRID:SCR_026371) at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.”
  • “We thank the Behavioral Phenotyping Core (RRID:SCR_026371) at Seattle Children’s Research Institute for its assistance with the completion of [assay/experiment/analysis/etc.]”

Additionally, BPC scientists may make contributions significant enough to warrant authorship on research publications such as novel assay development, experimental design, data collection, data analysis and assistance with manuscript drafting. In these instances, it is recommended that authorship be granted based on the level of contribution in accordance with the National Institute of Health (NIH) guidelines for authorship contributions.

Location

Behavioral Phenotyping Core
Seattle Children’s Research Institute
1900 Ninth Ave., 10th Floor
Seattle, WA 98101

Contact