by Dom Mason
Before I arrived as an intern in the I-DEEL lab, Shinichi purchased four completely automated experimental boxes from Zantiks Ltd – a behavioural research equipment company. Sent all the way from Cambridge, the boxes arrived soon after I began working at Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Before I arrived as an intern in the I-DEEL lab, Shinichi purchased four completely automated experimental boxes from Zantiks Ltd – a behavioural research equipment company. Sent all the way from Cambridge, the boxes arrived soon after I began working at Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
These new ‘Skinner boxes’ were to be utilised in a variety of zebrafish experiments, providing experimental standardisation and requiring minimal set up. The boxes can perform behavioural assays involving tracking, feeding and light stimuli. They are equipped to record video and have plastic inserts to modify the zebrafish arena. Fish are tracked and recorded by an infrared camera to ensure light (or lack thereof) does not impact data collection. Tracking data can then be exported as .csv files for analysis.
My initial goal was to implement two behavioural conditioning assays using the boxes – appetitive learning (food reward) and aversive learning (undesirable stimuli). As scripts are required to run the automation, the first challenge was to understand the code that drives the boxes. I wasn’t much of a programmer before tinkering with the scripts; fast-forward 6 months, and I’m still not much of a programmer. In saying that, I did get some practice modifying the base scripts which Zantiks provided.
Eventually, the scripts were suitable to begin pilot experiments. While it would be i-deel (😉) to implement both aversive and appetitive learning trials, we decided to focus solely on aversive learning due to time constraints involved in getting the fish to learn.
Eventually, the scripts were suitable to begin pilot experiments. While it would be i-deel (😉) to implement both aversive and appetitive learning trials, we decided to focus solely on aversive learning due to time constraints involved in getting the fish to learn.
They say you should never work with children or animals. I don’t know who they are, but they are not wrong.
Many mornings and afternoons have been spent toiling over which settings would yield the best results; and whether these results can be replicated. A key lesson learned was to give heed to all aspects of the experimental process provided by the literature. Once we included an acclimation period at the beginning of the assays, our confidence in the boxes reached an all-time high.
The next set of assays will set out to determine the variance in preference with different colour combinations – if there is any preference at all. And once we produce a consistent output of ‘significant’ results, other lab members can include Zantiks assays (quite easily) into their own work!
Many mornings and afternoons have been spent toiling over which settings would yield the best results; and whether these results can be replicated. A key lesson learned was to give heed to all aspects of the experimental process provided by the literature. Once we included an acclimation period at the beginning of the assays, our confidence in the boxes reached an all-time high.
The next set of assays will set out to determine the variance in preference with different colour combinations – if there is any preference at all. And once we produce a consistent output of ‘significant’ results, other lab members can include Zantiks assays (quite easily) into their own work!
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