Services Provided

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To request services provided by our core, please complete this form:

Animal Behavior Core Request Form

 

Free Initial Consultations

We are pleased to offer free initial consultations with investigators interested in behavioral and/or cognitive studies at UNMC and beyond. The consultation is a great way for us to assess your needs, the direction of your research – and for us to discuss your options with you. Even for long-term core users embarking on a new study, this will give us an opportunity to establish expectations, timelines, and goals for your upcoming study.

Do you already have ongoing studies that pre-date the core? No problem – we are still happy to meet with you to discuss how the creation of the core will benefit you, and establish expectations, timelines, and best practices to ensure continuity in data collection moving forward.

Research Design

Established Core Protocols

The Animal Behavior Core can provide you with standard protocols for the assays offered in the core upon request – as well as advice for referencing the core in your IACUC protocols, etc. These items are available upon request.

Novel Research Support

We can help you develop and validate novel assessments and protocols, tailored to fit the research question, ethology of the target species, umwelt of the strain and/or individual animals involved in the study, and the animals’ housing conditions.

IACUC Protocols

We can provide guidance and support as you prepare your IACUC protocol as well. However, please note that the opinion of the Animal Behavior Core does not constitute IACUC approval for any research activity. An approved IACUC protocol is mandatory for any activity performed in the Animal Behavior Core. You can access the IACUC’s guidelines and an overview of their approval process on the IACUC website.

Grant-Writing Support

We regularly provide editing and writing services, to assist you with the grant writing process in addition to materials such as facility and equipment summaries, data management plans, and letters of support.

Please plan ahead, as services are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. We want to be sure we have time to provide you with the needed materials well before your deadline.

Hands-On Training

We provide free training services for investigators and staff on a variety of behavioral studies, animal handling, data analysis, and other key topics to ensure the quality of data collected in the core as well as compliance with our strict animal welfare policies.

Access to Specialized Procedure Rooms & Equipment
for the Study of Rat and Mouse Behavior

The Animal Behavior Core equipment and procedure rooms and all equipment are maintained according to a strict SOP to assure cleanliness. These procedures are validated quarterly to ensure the security of the core facility.

Access to procedure rooms will be provided at the time of booking by the Animal Behavior Core director. In order to gain access to the procedure rooms, an approved IACUC protocol number must be provided and include the names of all investigators who will require access.

In an effort to ensure that our investigators do not have to wait for access to procedural space, we ask that you contact us far in advance to discuss scheduling. This helps us plan space usage to benefit all investigators – especially when considering repeated measures designs and long-term studies.

Mouse Services:

Rat Services:

Specialty Support for Studies with Other Species

We often provide assistance with the development and implementation of non-murine studies both in the lab and in the field, as deemed necessary by the project scope.

Other Rodent Species

Rabbits

Nonhuman Primates

Pigs & Sheep

Agricultural and Applied Animal Behavior Research

Other Species & Applications

Coordinating with Experts Across the
University of Nebraska System and Beyond

We are happy to support you by actively engaging with investigators beyond the UNMC campus, through the Nebraska OneHealth Initiative and other outlets to support a vast network of scientists and community stakeholders. We are also happy to help you find other experts within and beyond the University of Nebraska system to facilitate collaboration.