Proposal

The goal of this application is to improve the efficiency of training FAU undergraduate and graduate students in the methods of behavioral neuroscience research. Neuroscience is fast becoming a popular course of study at FAU, with our BS degree program in Neuroscience and Behavior, and several graduate degree programs offered through the Psychology, and Biological Sciences departments and the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences. Dr. Stackman’s research lab has hosted numerous FAU undergraduate students and graduate students from these programs, as trainees in his neuroscience research lab, and he has incorporated neuroscience research topics in all of the courses he has offered. These efforts are designed to teach students about neuroscience and the scientific methods of inquiry used to gain understanding of brain-behavior relationships. Such opportunities shape student awareness of how scientific knowledge is acquired, and fuel student interest in pursuing future training in neuroscience. The first two goals of this proposal represent significant improvements to existing research infrastructure that will enhance the scope and efficiency of neuroscience research training FAU can offer.

The most significant impact on science education is achieved when students move beyond the lecture halls and enter active labs. In partnership with faculty from the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), a modular lab course was initiated at FAU in 2011 to train students in neurophysiology – the science of electrical signaling by brain cells or neurons. The lab course is run in a teaching lab on the FAU Jupiter campus where students learn hands-on neuroscience research techniques using equipment mostly borrowed from the labs of participating faculty (Drs. Stackman, Murphey and Dawson-Scully from FAU and Dr. Sam Young of MPFI). Our lab course is unique: no other university in the state of Florida offers such a hands-on techniques-driven training course in neurophysiology, and our course is only the second one offered along the entire East Coast! We hope to expand the Advanced Neurophysiology Lab course with training modules covering the latest techniques, but expansion will require investment. The third goal of this proposal will enable us to train FAU students on an exciting new approach applied to neuroscience called optogenetics.

Altogether, hands-on neuroscience lab experiences bolster students’ science education, and for many, these experiences make a critical difference in student competitiveness for graduate training in neuroscience, and medical school. Dr. Stackman has built a Behavioral Neuroscience Core Facility in the Research Facility Expansion building (MC-19) at the FAU Jupiter campus with research resources from his own neuroscience research lab. The Behavioral Neuroscience Core facility is administered by Dr. Stackman but is accessible to faculty and students interested in the methods of neurobiological research into the mechanisms of learning and memory, and other related behaviors. Dr. Stackman currently makes this facility available to other labs at the Jupiter campus and beyond. For example, Dr. Stackman is using his Behavioral Neuroscience Core facility resources to assist Kyle Newton, a Ph.D. student with Dr. Stephen Kajiura (Biological Sciences) to analyze stingray foraging behavior from digital video files. This research collaboration would not be possible without the Behavioral Neuroscience Core facility’s resources. Dr. Stackman has also assisted Dr. Robert Vertes of the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences in designing and analyzing data using resources from the Behavioral Neuroscience Core facility.

Therefore, the Behavioral Core facility has proved to be a valuable and unique resource for neuroscience and animal behavioral research at FAU. However, most of the equipment, computers and software in the core facility were purchased with FAU development funds provided when Dr. Stackman arrived at FAU in 2006. FAU’s initial investment in Dr. Stackman has paid off in dividends: since arriving, Dr. Stackman has won a 5-yr $1M R01 grant and a 2-yr $275,000 R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health, and a 3-yr $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. These extramural grants have provided support for research assistantships for students and a postdoctoral research fellow, and supply costs for experiments. However, only a small portion of these grants has been able to be used to upgrade lab equipment, computers and software, since these costs that are often dis-allowed on federal grant awards). Therefore, this Technology Fee application proposes the timely upgrade of important research infrastructure that Dr. Stackman uses to train numerous FAU students. It is important to note that Dr. Stackman has never before applied for a Technology Fee award.

This Technology Fee project application proposes three goals: (i) to upgrade two existing Leica dissecting microscopes to permit video capture and projection of microscope work onto external monitors; (ii) to upgrade existing video acquisition software and hardware packages to enable students to collect integrated behavioral and electrophysiological data simultaneously from the same research subjects; and (iii) to purchase equipment to train students in optogenetics, an exciting new technique that uses light to activate or silence the activity of neurons. Optogenetics offers tremendous opportunity for testing brain-behavioral relationships and this purchase will ensure that we can train FAU students in the most modern neuroscience techniques. These three goals of this Technology Fee application, which are summarized below, will vastly improve the quality of hands-on research experience that I can provide to FAU students in my lab.  

Goal 1.     A considerable amount of training FAU students in my lab involves manufacturing recording electrode devices, and surgical techniques, both of which are conducted with the aid of Leica MZ6 stereomicroscopes. These microscope procedures take time for trainees to become proficient with the highly detailed work. A significant impediment to becoming proficient is related to the fact that the trainee is unable to view directly the procedures under the microscope as they are being presented to the student. Generally, training entails performing a procedure under the microscope and then allowing the student to look through the objectives to view what I have done. As one might imagine, training involves a bit of pantomime and charades to convey complex procedures to the students. Simply, our current approach is outdated and training would improve if the students could watch to-be-learned procedures on an external monitor as I perform them under the microscope. Therefore, the intention is to outfit two existing stereomicroscopes with video cameras and components to permit feeding signal to external LCD monitors.

Goal 2.     My lab routinely collects both behavioral and neurophysiological activity simultaneously from the same research subjects using existing hardware and software packages from Noldus Information Technology (Leesburg, VA) and Plexon Inc. (Dallas, TX) purchased over 7 yrs ago with extramural grant awards, and FAU development funds. Currently, these two “data streams” are collected on independent systems (Noldus Ethovision for the behavior, and Plexon Offline sorter for the neurophysiology). Our current strategy for analyzing our data requires us to integrate the data streams using a substantial time-consuming effort of playing back hours of video files to incorporate and synchronize physiological data acquired during the same trials. Many students dislike the mundane steps of data integration because it is laborious and many find that it is easy to get “lost” in the process and lose sight of goals of specific experiments. Noldus has recently released significant improvements to their data acquisition package, which would enable our existing Noldus system to directly integrate with our Plexon system as well. The upgrades would eliminate our current data analysis and re-analysis process since both video and physiology data streams would be acquired simultaneously. The software upgrades also offer greater sophistication in experiment design and behavioral tracking by permitting the Noldus package to interface with Plexon and other in-house lab equipment through the Noldus Trial and Hardware Control module (as listed in the supporting quote). Noldus Ethovision tracks research subjects by detecting the position of colored markers at high video camera frame rate (30-60 Hz), and their newest software release will permit tracking two subjects simultaneously (Noldus Social Interaction Module, listed in the supporting quote).  The proposed upgrade from Noldus will require us to replace our existing Dell PCs (purchased in 2006 and 2007) with new Dell XPS 8700 desktop computers running Windows 8 environments and higher resolution monitors to take full advantage of the improved video support of the newer Noldus Ethovision software capabilities. Therefore, this goal represents software upgrades to our three existing Noldus Ethovision licenses that would eliminate significant bottlenecks in our current outdated system of data integration, and the required replacement of lab desktop computers needed to run the new software applications from Noldus. Together, this goal will permit students more time to work on analyzing data and interpreting their results, and a tremendous modernization to our ability to test brain mechanisms of behavior.

Goal 3.     The final goal for the application is the purchase of a PlexBright optogenetics system from Plexon Inc. (Dallas, TX). This system will integrate easily with our existing neurophysiological hardware and software from Plexon, as well as with the Noldus Ethovision behavioral tracking systems in my lab. Optogenetics uses light to control the activity of individual neurons in living brain tissue through light-sensitive proteins. The high-profile research journal Nature Methods chose optogenetics as its “Method of the Year in 2010, and in the same year the research journal, Science named optogenetics as one of the “Breakthroughs of the Decade”. The field of optogenetics offers remarkable possibilities for defining fundamental brain circuitry that supports behavior and may lead to important insights into the treatment of human neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. My research program is focused on understanding the brain mechanisms of learning and long-term memory; with a goal towards identify drug-able targets to improve memory in humans. In vivo optogenetic activation or silencing of brain regions or individual populations of neurons represents a cutting-edge approach in behavioral neuroscience. The technique is only a few years old; however, numerous labs at the top research universities are now beginning to employ optogenetics in their neuroscience research programs. Interestingly, there are no labs at FAU or at MPFI or Scripps, which are using in vivo optogenetics; therefore, bringing this exciting approach to FAU would raise the stature of our research-training program. Further, optogenetics would be added to our Advanced Neurophysiology Lab course in order to introduce FAU students to its application to neuroscience inquiry.

Therefore, we would use the technological fee award to purchase equipment to upgrade three aspects of my behavioral neurophysiology lab at FAU – the Behavioral Neuroscience Core Facility. It is expected that these simple fixes would elevate the training of the students and improve their understanding of the work. This proposal would benefit Department of Psychology undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, interested faculty, medical students, and visiting colleagues in several ways. The proposed goals will improve the efficiency of all student training on complicated neurophysiological techniques, benefit graduate student projects by decreasing delays in data analysis, and widen the scope of possibilities for student research training on exciting new approaches in behavioral neuroscience. It is believed that these improvements to student training fit well with the FAU Quality Enhancement Plan initiative. Therefore, this Technology Fee application, for purchasing hardware and software totaling $36,812, represents an important and timely investment in FAU’s research infrastructure.

This project is aligned strongly to several goals of FAU’s Strategic Plan and the recently initiated QEP program. For example Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan is to increase access to higher education and to research activities and technology. The proposed technology will permit the lab to accomplish this goal by increasing the scope of offerings and enhance the efficiency of training. Goal 3 of the Strategic Plan is to build world-class academic programs and research capacity. The proposed project is perfectly positioned to this goal. The technology gained by the proposed purchases will augment an already successful research lab and raise the level of sophistication that we can offer in training students and in the production of graduates with advanced degrees in neuroscience. The project will enable us to increase the visibility of the neuroscience research offerings at FAU by implementing state-of-the art techniques and infrastructure. Together with our new Advanced Neurophysiology Lab course, these improvements will raise the visibility of FAU within academic circles and the broader south Florida community. Dr. Stackman and his students regularly attend scientific meetings and publish articles in academic neuroscience and psychology journals, which increase the visibility of FAU amongst academic peer institutions, and the lay public. Projects such as the one proposed here would have the added advantage of sending the message that FAU places high value on research and training in the neurosciences.