The Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core facility was established in 2009 and provides a state-of-the-art facility equipped to serve as a time-efficient and cost-effective service for researchers in need of mouse and rat behavioural analyses.

Our tests

Test Name 

Equipment in Core 

Species Availability 

Maximum Animals Tested Simultaneously 

Adhesive Removal Test 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Beam Break 

  • Hardware and Software: San Diego Instruments 

Mice and rats 

Up to 24 mice or 12 rats tested simultaneously 

Cylinder Rearing Test 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Digigait 

  • Hardware and Software: Digigait treadmill system by Mouse Specifics 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Grip strength 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Hanging Wire Test 

  • Hardware: Canus Plastics Inc 

Mice 

One animal per trial. 

Horizontal Ladder 

  • Hardware: Canus Plastics Inc., Handycam by Sony or FLIR High Frame Rate camera by Teledyne 

Mice and rats 

One animal per trial. 

Nest building 

Mice 

No capacity limit 

Open Field 

Mice and rats 

Up to 4 mice or 2 rats tested simultaneously. 

Pasta Matrix Reaching Test 

Mice 

One animal per trial. 

Phenotyper 

Mice and rats 

Up to 8 animals tested simultaneously. 

Pole Test 

  • Hardware:  Handycam by Sony or FLIR High Frame Rate camera by Teledyne  

Mice 

One animal per trial. 

Rotarod 

  • Mice: Rota-Rod by IITC Life Sciences, and RotaRod by Ugo Basile 
  • Rats: Rotor-Rod by San Diego Instruments 

Mice and rats 

Up to 5 mice or 4 rats tested simultaneously. 

Single Pellet Reaching Test 

Mice and rats 

Up to 2 animals tested simultaneously. 

Splash Grooming Test 

Mice and rats 

Up to 4 animals tested simultaneously. 

Staircase Reaching 

Mice and rats 

Up to 10 mice or 30 rats tested simultaneously. 

Rotational Behaviour 

Mice and rats 

Up to 2 mice or 2 rats tested simultaneously. 

Wireless Counting Running Wheels 

  • Hardware and Software: Low profile wireless running wheel for mice by Med Associates Inc,; running wheels for Phenotyper by Noldus Information Technology 

Mice and rats 

Up to 100 mice or 14 rats tested simultaneously. 

Contact us

Faculty of Medicine Animal Behaviour and Physiology Core

Room 2538, Roger Guindon Hall (RGH),
451 Smyth Road,
Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada

Office: 613-562-5800 Ext: 8621
Manager: Kerstin Ure, PhD
Email: [email protected]