Bridging the translational gap in rodent behavioral testing using touchscreens and the MouseBytes Open science data repository

Open Science has changed research by making data accessible and shareable, contributing to replicability to accelerate and disseminate knowledge. However, for rodent cognitive studies the availability of tools to share and disseminate data is scarce. Automated touchscreen-based tests enable systematic cognitive assessment with easily standardized outputs that can facilitate data dissemination. Here we present an integration of touchscreen cognitive testing  with an open-access database public repository (mousebytes.ca), as well as a Web platform for knowledge dissemination (https://touchscreencognition.org). We complement these resources with the largest dataset of age-dependent high-level cognitive assessment of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, expanding knowledge of affected cognitive domains from male and female mice of three mouse strains. We envision that these new platforms will enhance sharing of protocols, data availability and transparency, allowing meta-analysis and reuse of mouse cognitive data to increase the replicability/reproducibility of datasets.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the pitfalls and advantages of cognitive testing in mouse models of disease
2. Learn about new initiatives in Open Science and data sharing for behavioral neuroscience