What can you expect from Noldus at SfN 2023?

Just a few days to go until Neuroscience 2023! Are you ready? We sure are! Maybe you're reading this after the conference, which is great since it also serves as a great resource for what we show in our booth! 

We will be in booth #1223

Make sure to drop by our booth! We will be present with a number of our behavioral experts and product managers that can tell you everything about our upcoming innovations, but also (most importantly) we can help you in finding the right research solution for you! Every research project is different, but we are here to help and have a ton of resources to smooth out the process for you! 

Wondering what that green mouse is doing at the top of this blog? Come by our booth to pick one up and take it around D.C. and SfN with the hashtag #SfN23

Get a first impression on some exciting upcoming products

PhenoTyper 2: a revolutionary update 

PhenoTyper 2 brings some long-awaited updates to our revolutionary behavioral home-cage system! This hardware upgrade ensures you get better video quality compared to the old model, but by far the most exciting change is the modular top unit. This top unit can fit modular pieces that can be removed and/or swapped out for other integrated add-ons, making it highly customizable to your needs, while ensuring flexibility for the future. Think of specific light spots or buzzers that produce sounds. With the new top unit, no room lighting is necessary since the PhenoTyper 2 provides its own infrared and white light. The white light comes from an internal light ring that evenly distributes the light on the bottom. This means that experiments do not have to rely on, and shadows are not influenced by, external light sources in the experiment room. With this you can easily simulate day and night cycles during your study.

We will be showcasing the PhenoTyper 2 in our booth at SfN!

The Smart Annotator: our new AI-based smart annotation tool

We are constantly looking for smart and effective ways to reliably increase your data acquisition capabilities. In this case it's all about measuring additional behaviors in rodents, think of rearing, grooming, sniffing, etc. The Smart Annotator automatically detects behavior in mice and rats, and you can choose a suggested behavior from the trained AI model. 

Sneak peek only at SfN 2023! 

The Multi Subject Tracker: Accurately video track multiple subjects simultaneously

EthoVision XT has become the golden standard in video tracking. EthoVision XT 16 brought us deep learning tracking, EthoVision XT 17 expanded this to multiple arenas. Now we bring you: deep learning (AI) tracking in multiple subjects in the same arena! The Multi Subject Tracker (MST) in EthoVision XT will have pre-trained AI models for tracking and analyzing social interactions of mice and/or rats.

Want to become a Beta tester? Let us know at: [email protected]

NORTIO: Our new and improved I/O platform with unparalleled data integration possibilities

The Noldus USB-IO box is a device that enables EthoVision XT to communicate directly with external equipment, and provides essential and seamless integration with Noldus' PhenoTyper. NORTIO is our latest iteration of this I/O box, and you will be able to get a sneak preview at SfN! NORTIO stands for Noldus Real Time Input Output and is an I/O box that is truly ready for the future. Among other things, NORTIO will eventually feature better scalability, less use of cables, analog signal capabilities, better 3rd party integration, real-time I/O (fixed timing), easy to use robust connectors, and faster THC. These improvements are all aimed at providing a flexible experiment interface. 

See how it works at SfN!

Noldus-Bitbrain-Tobii integration: Improve research insights using multimodal systems

We are proud to announce a collaborative integration that brings together the capabilities with Noldus' comprehensive software and analysis system The Observer XT and Bitbrain's state-of-the-art wearable dry-EEG headset Diadem. The combination of The Observer XT and the 12 channel Diadem allows researchers to synchronize behavioral observations with neural data, enabling practical applications such as cognitive load assessment, user experience studies, neuromarketing research, and more.

Also, eye tracking systems add substantial power to your (multimodal) lab set-up. They employ various technologies to track and record both the position and movement of a person’s eyes, generating extensive data related to attention and emotion. Communication between Tobii Pro Lab and The Observer XT makes use of the Noldus communication protocol N-Linx, which simplifies start and stop of the eye tracking recording and synchronization with the Event Log in The Observer XT.

Find out more about these exciting collaborations at: www.noldus.com/data-integration

$500! - Abstract contest Winners

We’ve asked you to send in your presentation at Neuroscience 2023 if you have done research with Noldus tools (like EthoVision XT, CatWalk XT, DanioVision or PhenoTyper). Many of you did, and as a result, we have compiled them in a nice program book. You can pick it up at our booth! And of course, we have also picked two winners...

Congratulations to Maricela Martinez and Bethany Kondiles! They are both winners of our $500 cash prize

Maricela Martinez is a PhD student in the Mahler lab at the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior of the University of California, Irvine. She used EthoVision XT to measure behavior in rats after exposure to THC (a cannabinoid drug) during adolescence, which can lead to long-term changes in brain function and increase susceptibility to opioid addiction. She will present her findings with a poster on November 13th between 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM in WCC halls A-C (PSTR228 session)

Dr. Bethany Kondiles is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, and she has used the CatWalk XT to examine the potential of repurposing the drugs metformin and clemastine to improve recovery from spinal cord injury (SCI), particularly by promoting remyelination. She will present the outcomes in a nanosymposium on November 14th between 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM in WCC 140 (NANO64 session).

 Hope to see you next week at Neuroscience 2023!