Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core

The MUSC Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core provides both MUSC investigators and other external investigators the equipment, expertise, service and training for testing a range of common mouse behaviors. The core provides a range of behavior testing services to study neurological disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, intellectual disability, anxiety/depression, and Alzheimer’s Disease. The core performs behavioral testing, data analysis, and data interpretation to interested investigators on a fee-for-service basis. In addition, the core offers personnel training for investigator to have access to the behavior equipment if they prefer to test the mice themselves. Overall, the core provides necessary equipment and expertise to correlate behavioral outcomes of treatments/genetic modifications to cellular/molecular changes of the variants that are observed in their independent labs.

If you have used Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core services, please share your feedback using the following forms: 

Feedback Form - MUSC email access

Feedback Form - non-MUSC email access

Recent Publications

Baxter AN, Hunter SE, Penrod RD, Wilkerson BA. Anxiety-like behavior in deaf Ebf1 conditional knockout mice. Hear Res. 2026 Jan;470:109510. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2025.109510. Epub 2025 Dec 16. PMID: 41442958; PMCID: PMC12951283.

Mallah K, Krieg C, Hatchell D, Hamouda N, Roof T, Walterhouse S, Toutonji A, Borucki D, Couch C, Hardiman G, Kobeissy F, Guglietta S, Tomlinson S. Targeted complement inhibition ameliorates the pathological and cognitive outcomes in repetitive mild closed head injury. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2025 Nov 20;10(1):378. doi: 10.1038/s41392-025-02466-7. PMID: 41261092; PMCID: PMC12630812.

McDougle M, Glass V, Suganya S, Smith W, Frost P, DePasquale B, Ha L, Koehler A, Thomas K, Capurso J, Ledo JH, Berto S, Azevedo EP. A Neurotensin Brake on Exploratory Drive under Persistent Threat. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026 Jul 30:2026.07.29.741073. doi: 10.64898/2026.07.29.741073. PMID: 42620056; PMCID: PMC13484289.

Johnson D, Sundararaj KP, Subramanian S, Qiu Y, Samuel I, Cheng D, Salman T, Luo Z, Fitting S, Keen L, Call E, Maddi A, Stoops W, Hartley A, McKinnon JE, Wan Z, Berto S, Jiang W. Characterize Oral-to-Blood Microbial DNA Translocation in Individuals with Cocaine Use Disorder. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026 Jan 4:2025.11.03.686400. doi: 10.1101/2025.11.03.686400. PMID: 41280052; PMCID: PMC12637719.

Salman T, Luo Z, Johnson D, Noorani AA, Wan Z, Bordieanu B, Ye ZW, Penrod RD, Xian H, Fitting S, Kalivas PW & Jiang W. Oral Actinomyces Species Exposure is Associated with Anxiety-Like Behavior, Mitochondrial Remodeling, and Altered GABAergic Pathways. Adv Sci (Weinh):e78144, 2026. PMCID: PMC13668766.

Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Equipment

The current behavior testing suites (BS415 and BS408) contain equipment and mazes from Med Associates and Stoelting to test a variety of mouse behaviors associated with neurological and motor disorders, which have been detailed below.

Equipment	Qty	Brand
3-Chamber Social Interaction Arena	2	Stoelting
ANY-maze Video Tracking Camera & Software	3	Stoelting
Barnes Maze	2	Stoelting
Conditioned Place Preference Boxes	6	Med Associates
Elevated O-Maze	1	Stoelting
Elevated Plus Maze	2	Stoelting
Morris Water Maze (with radial maze insert)	1	Maze Engineers
Open Field Box	6	Stoelting (4 white boxes and 2 grey boxes)
Operant Chambers	8	Med Associates (all nose-poke boxes; levers can be added to 4 boxes)
Radial Arm Maze	1	—
Rotarod	1	Ugo Basile
Startle Boxes	2	Med Associates
T-Maze	1	—
Ultrasonic Vocalization Chambers & Equipment	2	Aves
Video Cameras	2	—
Video Freeze (Fear Conditioning) Chambers	4	Med Associates
Von Frey	1	Stoelting (20-piece filament set)
XY-axis (Horizontal) Locomotor Chambers	8	San Diego Instruments
Y-Maze	6	Stoelting (all with standard walls; high walls can be used with 4 mazes)
Z-axis (Vertical) Locomotor Chambers	2	Med Associates

Guidance for Users

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Publication and Funding Questions

How do I acknowledge the MBPC in my publications?

• In the acknowledgement section of your paper please state “Behavioral testing was supported by the CNDD Mouse Behavior Phenotyping Core (P20GM148302), a University Shared Research Facility at MUSC. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”

•  Please visit the following link for additional information on acknowledging funding properly: Communication and Acknowledging Federal Funding

• In addition, we ask that all users carefully review and adhere to the most recent NIH Grants Policies, including restrictions on Foreign Components and Organizations.

How do I get a quote from the MBPC to use in my grant submission?

• The mouse core staff are happy to generate a grant submission quote for you! Simply email mbpc@musc.edu and core staff will reach out to generate a quote using your purposed timeline, animal quantity, and assays.

• Not sure on what assays to include in your proposal? Core staff can give you recommendations based on experimental goals, contact mbpc@musc.edu to start a consultation

How do I get a letter of support from the MBPC to use in my grant submission?

• You can use this template (PDF) and send to mbpc@musc.edu along with additional experimental information and deadline. Please provide at least 1 week notice for LoS generation.

Do I need to update the MBPC when I publish a paper or receive funding using data generated by the MBPC?

• Yes, update the core when your data is used in grant submissions include agency, a mechanism, MTDC, and update us if funded using this form or by emailing mbpc@musc.edu.

• Yes, update the core when your data is used in a publication include the title, journal/meeting, and authors using this form or by emailing mpbc@musc.edu.

Infinity Related Questions

How do I create an account in Infinity?

• Contact Kelly Loveland to create an Infinity account.

What do I do if no lab is associated with my infinity account?

• Please contact your PI to have their lab added.

Who do I contact to correct FDMs in Infinity?

• Contact your departmental business administrator/accountant to add new or correct inaccurate FDMs Infinity

Who do I contact if I can’t access a room for scheduling or need to schedule outside of allowed hours?

• Contact core staff through the Mouse Core email (mbpc@musc.edu)

General Core Questions

What are the mouse core policies for users?

• Click to view a PDF version of MBPC policies for users.

What is the maximum number of mice I can run in the core at a time?

• The maximum cohort size for all core staff run assays is 16 mice. If users with independent access want to run larger cohort sizes, please refer to policy for room reservation limits to ensure you do not over book any apparatuses

When and where can I acclimate my mice?

• The core strongly recommends that users acclimate their animals at minimum for 1 hour per day for 3 days leading up to the start of the behavioral battery. Animals can be acclimated on carts inside the hallways of the core or core annex depending on where behavioral testing will take place. Users can also book time in the behavior rooms to acclimate the animals to the specific behavior room if desired.

Protocol Questions

Where can I find current copies of approved assays to run in the core?

• Physical copies of all standard protocols can be found in the black protocol binders within the core spaces. Please visit the MBPC User Resources box for digital copies of protocols and additional resources.  

How do I add the mouse core to my IACUC protocol?

• Please contact us through the Mouse Core email (mbpc@musc.edu) and IACUC staff for the most up to date information.

For additional protocol and training resources, please visit the MBPC User Resources Box.

Services & Pricing

The core is currently equipped to test a variety of behaviors in mice, ranging from anxiety to sociability. These include social interaction, social novelty, social communication, general activity (including repetitive behaviors), anxiety (elevated-plus maze, open-field chamber, and dark/light box exploration), depression (force-swim test and tail-suspension test), cognitive task (novel object recognition, Y-maze, Pavlovian fear conditioning, etc), startle response (acoustic- or shock-induced), sucrose preference (anhedonia test), and others.

Please consult with Rachel D. Penrod-Martin and core staff (mbpc@musc.edu) regarding experimental design, feasibility, and expected outcomes of proposed behavior test, as well as to reserve equipment and schedule training.

Fee Structure

MUSC Investigator Pricing

Studies & Data Analysis by Staff	$60 per hour
Use of Equipment/Room	$20 per hour
Training By Staff	$60 per hour

COBRE Discounts

Current RPLs/PPLs (including PPLs in NCE)	100% discount
Past RPLs and CNDD Leadership	25% discount
MUSC Community Members*	25% discount

*MUSC community members are defined as those with an active grant with a focus on neurodevelopment.

External Academic Investigator Pricing

Contracted Studies

$90 per hour

Commercial Pricing

Contracted Studies

$120 per hour

Process

Consult Meeting

Develop experimental design with the core director

Design Write-up

Prepare written summary of assays, including literature and statistics

Training and/or Service

Core trains investigator lab members and/or provides technician to complete experiments

Final Data and Follow-up

Core aids in data visualization and analysis, summary information for manuscript preparation

Behavior Tests Available

Sensory and Motor

• XY-axis (Horizontal) Locomotor Activity
• Z-axis (Vertical) Locomotor Activity
• Pre-Pulse Inhibition (PPI)
• Shock Sensitivity
• Fear Potentiated Startle
• Acoustic Startle
• Developmental Milestones
• Accelerated Rotarod
• Von Frey

Social-Related

• 3-chamber Social Interaction Test
• Open Field Social Interaction Test
• Conditioned Place Preference
• Juvenile Vocalizations (USVs) - distress
• Adult Vocalizations (USVs) - social

Cognition

• Pavlovian Fear Conditioning
• Contextual Fear Conditioning
• Fear Potentiated Startle
• Y-maze
• Barnes Maze
• Novel Object Recognition (NOR)
• Morris Water Maze
• Radial Arm Maze
• T-Maze

Anxiety

• Elevated Plus Maze (EPM)
• Elevated O-Maze (EOM)
• Marble Burying
• Dark/Light Box Exploration
• Open Field Test

Depression

• Forced-Swim Test
• Sucrose Preference

Facility Blueprint

The Mouse Behavioral Phenotyping Core is located in two spaces on MUSC's campus – Basic Science Building 408 and 415.