Behavioral Core Facilities

Contact Us

Basic Biomedical Sciences
Lee Medical Building
414 E. Clark St.
Vermillion, SD 57069

Office Hours

Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

605-658-6322

605-677-6381

biomed@usd.edu

website

Our Facility

Our facility is located in the Animal Resource Center (ARC) within the Lee Medical Building on the USD campus in Vermillion.

Subjects can be housed in state-of-the-art holding facilities (contact ARC Director Kevin O'Kelley and/or ARC Manager Megan Carlson for further details). Behavioral testing rooms are adjacent to holding rooms, minimizing transport stress. They are also fully enclosed to prevent disturbance and distraction from outside sources. Rooms are equipped with overhead digital cameras that feed images to automated tracking software and have adjustable lighting to permit testing under normal or reverse light cycle conditions.

Our Partners

University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine

Equipment & Facility Use

A variety of rodent testing apparatuses are available for use.

Water maze (large and small), radial arm maze (8-arm) and T-maze: This apparatus measures spatial learning and memory assessment along with tests for cognitive executive function, such as working memory and attention. The radial arm maze has infrared-lit walkways to ensure optimal subject detection by automated tracking software.
Open field (large and small): This apparatus measures anxiety, locomotion, novelty responses and social interaction.
Elevated plus maze (large and small): This apparatus measures generalized anxiety.
Operant conditioning chambers: These drug self-administration chambers are used to assess acquisition and maintenance of drug-taking behavior. Each chamber is enclosed in a sound-attenuated box, equipped with two retractable levers plus associated conditioned stimulus lights and has foot-shock capability to measure stress-induced acquisition and reinstatement. An associated computer can control all four chambers simultaneously.
Porsolt forced swim cylinders: These apparatuses measure anxiety and depression-like behavior. They are equipped with infrared backlights to ensure optimal subject detection by automated tracking software and are suitable for use with large and small subjects.
Hyperalgesia and allodynia assays:
- Uses nociception - Plantar Test Instrument (Hargreave's method) to measure response to a pain-inducing infrared heat stimulus.
- Tests hypersensitivity and allodynia using an electronic Von Frey apparatus for automatically assessing sensitivity to non-painful stimuli (allodynia).
Rotarod apparatus: This apparatus monitors motor coordination and fatigue and includes software for PC-based control and data collection.
Automated tracking of subject movement using Noldus Ethovision software: This apparatus allows rapid processing and collation of data, which can be easily exported to other programs for statistical analysis.
Laptop computers loaded with Noldus Observer XT software: These computers allow experimenter-based scoring of specific non movement-based behaviors, such as aggression and stereotypy.

Departments & Facilities

Explore the departments, facilities and centers that contribute to your education in basic biomedical sciences.

Female Sitting in Front of a Computer with a Brain Diagram on the Screen

Center for Brain and Behavior Research

The Center for Brain and Behavior Research (CBBRe) promotes outstanding training of research students and fellows, feeding the pipeline of creative independent scientists in the fields of neuroscience and behavioral science.

Human Anatomy Lab

The University of South Dakota’s human anatomy lab offers a cadaver-based experience to undergraduate, graduate, medical and health sciences students. Our lab enables future health care professionals to assist their patients through the mastery of human anatomy.