The Pre-Clinical Core is a component of the Center from Brain Recovery and Repair (P20GM109089). Its mission is to establish a centralized resource and expertise on automated behavior, in-vivo detection of neuronal activity, and structural analyses applicable to a range of pre-clinical models of brain and behavioral illnesses.
The Pre-Clinical Core is designed for researchers to quickly and efficiently test their pre-clinical disease model at the behavioral, neuronal activity, and histological level in one place.
Lee Anna Cunningham, PhD
Pre-Clinical Core Director
Jonathan Brigman, PhD
Associate Core Director
Carissa Milliken, PhD
Core Manager
Q . How do I sign up to utilize Pre-Clinical Core Facilities for my research?
A: Our core facility scheduling utilizes iLabs management software. Please contact the Pre-Clinical Core Manager, Carissa Milliken for MOU and iLabs account set up.
Q. What behavioral task do you offer?
A. The Pre-Clinical Core offers motion tracking system (e.g. open field, novel object recognition etc.), advanced gait analysis, rotarod, and automated fear conditioning and touch-screen behavioral tasks. Most behavior can be integrated with in-vivo electrophysiology.
Q: What species does the Pre-Clinical Core work with?
A: The Pre-Clinical Core is a facility focused on mouse models of neurological disease.
Q: What microscopy techniques does the Pre-Clinical Core offer?
A: We offer in-vivo anesthetized and ex-vivo multi-photon imaging, in-vivo single photon imaging, laser speckle contrast imaging, and in-vivo awake/behaving mini-scope fluorescence imaging.
Q: What type of histology services does the Pre-Clinical Core offer?
A: We offer tissue processing and mounting, tissue sectioning (sliding knife, vibrating vibratome, and cryostat), basic immunohistochemistry, tissue clearing, and Imaris 3D and 4D image analysis.
The Pre-Clinical Core Facility houses resources for automated behavioral testing, including touchscreen inputs and gait analysis tools.
The resources at the Pre-Clinical Core include automated animal tracking systems, learning and memory tasks, motor and gait analysis systems, in-vivo single and multiphoton imaging, optogentics, in-vivo electrophysiology, histology, and 3D and 4D image analysis.
| Service | Details | UNM-Affiliated Research | Non-UNM or Industry Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Training and Consultations | All users must be trained on the equipment prior to use of the facilities. The Pre-Clinical Core Staff can also provide consultations for experimental design and troubleshooting. | $51.50/hour | $70/hour |
| Project Development | Individualized assistance to investigators to develop detailed protocols, experimental design, or assist with data interpretation |
$40/hour | $50/hour |
| Behavior | |||
| Ethovision Motion Tracking | Includes: open field, novel object recognition, Y-maze, zero maze, and Morris water maze. |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| Fear Conditioning | Trace and/or contextual fear conditioning |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| Rotarod | Simple and effective way to measure motor learning. |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| Touchscreen | Touchscreen based cognitive tasks |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| Home Cage Monitoring | For precise montioring, recording, and analysis of movement |
$24/day (usage fee) |
$48/day (usage fee) |
| Catwalk | A sophisticated and high-through put system to measure gate and motor performance in mice or rats. |
$20/hour (service) $10/hour (usage) |
$30/hour (service) $15/hour (usage) |
| Microscopy | |||
| Epi-Fluorescence Microscopy |
The Preclinical offers a single photon epi-fluorecence microscope |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| In-vivo electrophysiology, optogenetics, and mini-scopes | Highly effective ways to monitor and manipulate neuronal activity while the animal is awake and behaving. |
$25/hour (service) $12.50/hour (usage) |
$38/hour (service) $20/hour (usage) |
| Imaris 3D and 4D image analysis software | Highly powerful analysis software capable of automated 3D and 4D quantification. |
$12.50/hour (usage) |
$15/hour (usage) |
| Anesthetized two photon-imaging | High resolution in-vivo imaging of vascular network, neuronal morphology, and network activity. | $40/hour | $80/hour |
| Till Photonic Fluorescence Imaging system | High Speed fluorescence Ca2+ imaging of in-vitro cultures, ex-vivo tissue, or anesthetized in-vivo. | $15/hour | $55/hour |
| Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) system | Macroscopic laser based imaging system that monitors and measures blood flow | $15/hour | $55/hour |
| Slice Electrophysiology combined with Till Photonics fluorescence imaging system | Slice electrophysiology in combination with simultaneous high speed fluorescence Ca2+ imaging | $15/hour | $55/hour |
| Histology | |||
| Tissue Processing (Sliding Knife, Vibrating microtome, or Cryostat) | The Pre-Clinical offers a variety of tissue processing methods suitable for a variety of histological protocols. |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
| CLARITY | An innovative way to optically clear tissue to image large fluorescent 3 dimensional structures. |
$300 for first sample, $200 for each additional sample (service) $10 for first sample, $5 for each additional sample (usage) |
$450.00 for the first sample, $300.00 for each additional sample (service) $15.00 for the first sample, $7.50 for each additional sample (usage) |
| Immunohistochemistry | The Preclinical offers a variety of Immunohistochemistry and histological stains. |
$15.50/hour (service) $7.50/hour (usage) |
$25/hour (service) $12/hour (usage) |
Our core facility scheduling utilizes iLabs management software. Please contact the Pre-Clinical Core Manager, Carissa Milliken for MOU and iLabs account set up.
The Preclinical Imaging Core includes an actively shielded 7.0T MRI scanner (Bruker BioSpin) dedicated exclusively to animal imaging.
The Preclinical Imaging Core is capable of several types of imaging:
The Preclinical Imaging Core houses a 7.0T 40 cm bore MR scanner for both structural and functional MRI in animal models. This actively shielded Bruker NMRI system is equipped with two distinct water-cooled gradient sets:
Both gradient sets can tolerate the high duty cycles required for fast imaging techniques like Echo Planar Imaging (EPI).
The NMRI system is equipped with Bruker AVANCE I electronics located in a separate room adjacent to the magnet. The AVANCE system consists of waveform generation, receiver, and digitizer units, and a 64-bit CPU for data pre-processing.
The Preclinical Imaging Core can provide access to a variety of coils. All coils are compatible with fast imaging methods (EPI, DTI, and fMRI).
A dedicated workstation is available for data transfer and offline data processing.
The Preclinical Imaging Core is well equipped for animal handling.
| UNM-Affiliated Research | Non-UNM or Industry Research | |
|---|---|---|
| Preclinical Imaging Core Resource Use | $150 | $300 |
