The purpose of the Behavioral Assessment core (BAC) is to document neurobehavioral manifestations present in murine and rhesus monkey animal models which reflect pathological changes reminiscent of those seen in HIV+ patients, relevant, state of the art assays will target behaviors known to be impaired in patients with NeuroAids and associated with affected brain regions. To fulfill this goal the BAC will provide services for 1) demonstrating that viral disease models produce functional changes reflected in behavioral pathology, and 2) evaluating the therapeutic potential for novel agents using behavioral endpoints. The availability of the BAC will permit Scripps NeuroAIDS Preclinical Studies (SNAPS) PI's to obtain behavioral assays of animal models and target compounds using a novel level of analysis that has clinical relevance for the study of NeuroAIDS.
Specific Aims of the BAC are to provide behavioral testing in mouse models of viral pathogenesis including 1) Basic physiological measures, 2) Motor ability and exploration, 3) Learning and memory function, and in SIV-infected macaques, 4) Psychomotor performance, 5) Scheduled-controlled responding, 6) Complex, cognition assessed using tested based on a human battery. Additionally the BAC will be involved in 7) Behavioral analysis of novel compounds, 8) Advice and training for behavioral assessment, and 9) Close interactions with the other cores for education, outreach and collaborative activities of the CSPAR. The BAC is designed to be flexible according to the outreach and collaborative activities of the CSPAR. The BAC is designed to be flexible according to the strategic needs and priorities for the entire CSPAR set by the CSPAR Director, PI's, and the advisory boards. The BAC will solicit advice from these individuals regarding core policies, services and maintenance of collaborations among the BAC, other research cores, and potential new users. The Core director will communicate with SNAPS PI's to determine their current and future expectations for BAC services in order to ensure state of the art services that meet the needs of the CSPAR. Performance and output of the BAC will be evaluated by the efficient and timely acquisition of data leading to high quality publications and by the development of new projects related to work conducted by the Core.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 374 publications
