Laboratories
Consistent with the broad range of research interests expressed by members of the CBE, our laboratory facilities are correspondingly wide-ranging.
We have a large number of specialised laboratories for animal studies. For insects, we have behavioural and physiology laboratories to facilitate ongoing studies into learning, olfactory coding and visual control of flight in insects. Intracellular and extracellular recording in insects are conducted in dedicated electrophysiology laboratories.
We also have a range of purpose-built laboratories for studying the behaviour of rats and birds. These house modern operant test chambers for cognitive studies, and equipment for staining, microscopy and histology to support our neuroscience projects. We also have an elevated plus maze, open field arena and place preference boxes for use in animal welfare studies. We employ a range of software packages such as Observer, Ethovision and Clever Systems for the coding and analysis of video footage.
The CBE also runs a suite of climate controlled chambers for behavioural and physiological experiments. In these chambers, temperature profiles can be programmed between -10 and +30 C, with some control of humidity as well. This facility is available to researchers or businesses external to the CBE and the University as well. A full list of University Research Facilities available for commercial use can be found on the Services for Business web pages.
For human studies, we have dedicated PCs and laboratories for presenting stimlui for subject rating, and running evolutionary simulations and experimental economic games. We also have a fully equipped eye tracking laboratory, which allows us to study eye movements in relation to cues of attractiveness and mate choice.
