The Behavioral Core Laboratory was established by the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease to analyze neurobehavioral functions, such as motor coordination or learning and memory, in rodent models of human neurological diseases. Understanding the molecular pathways that impair such functions in experimental models can provide important insights into clinically relevant disease processes as well as into basic functions of the nervous system (see References for examples).

Through collaborative interactions and consultations, the laboratory serves scientists in all three Gladstone Institutes and in various departments of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Together with Dr. Bruce Miller and his colleagues in the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, we are investigating specific links between cognitive impairments in patients with different types of dementia and behavioral deficits in mouse models of these conditions. We hope that this comparison will promote the development of suitable tests and novel treatment strategies to improve cognition in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions.