New Tools for Behavioral and Circuit Analysis

caption In parallel with our efforts to understand the neurobiology of emotion systems, we are developing new tools and methodologies to enable more rapid and powerful approaches to these biological problems. The methods and enabling platform technologies we are developing include a) automated, machine vision-based quantitative measurement of behavior (in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Pietro Perona, Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering); b) new, viral-based methods for trans-neuronal circuit tracing; c) genetically encoded reporters of neuropeptide release; and d) novel preparations for in vivo imaging of neuronal activity using genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs).

Recent publications

Segalin, C., Williams, J., Karigo, T., Hui, M., Zelikowsky, M., Sun, J.J., Perona, P., Anderson, D.J., and Kennedy, A. (2021). The Mouse Action Recognition System (MARS) software pipeline for automated analysis of social behaviors in mice. Elife 10.

Weissbourd, B., Momose, T., Nair, A., Kennedy, A., Hunt, B., and Anderson, D.J. (2021). A genetically tractable jellyfish model for systems and evolutionary neuroscience. Cell 184, 5854–5868.e20.

Ding, K., Han, Y., Seid, T.W., Buser, C., Karigo, T., Zhang, S., Dickman, D.K., and Anderson, D.J. (2019). Imaging neuropeptide release at synapses with a genetically engineered reporter. Elife 8, 40.

Inagaki, H.K., Jung, Y., Hoopfer, E.D., Wong, A.M., Mishra, N., Lin, J.Y., Tsien, R.Y., and Anderson, D.J. (2013). Optogenetic control of Drosophila using a red-shifted channelrhodopsin reveals experience-dependent influences on courtship. Nat Methods 11, 325–332.

Vrontou, S., Wong, A.M., Rau, K., Koerber, H.R., and Anderson, D.J. (2013) Genetic identification of C-fibers that detect massage-like stroking of hairy skin in vivo. Nature 493:669-673

Inagaki, H. K., de-Leon, S. B.-T., Wong, A. M., Jagadish, S., Ishimoto, H., Barnea, G., et al. (2012). Visualizing Neuromodulation In Vivo: TANGO-Mapping of Dopamine Signaling Reveals Appetite Control of Sugar Sensing. Cell, 148(3), 583–595

Lo, L.C. and Anderson, D.J. (2011) A cre-dependent anterograde trans-neuronal virus for tracing genetically marked neural pathways. Neuron 72:938-950

Dankert, H., Wang, L., Hoopfer, E.D., Anderson, D.J., and Perona, P. (2009). Automated monitoring and analysis of social behavior in Drosophila. Nat Methods 6, 297-303. [PubMed]