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We first “went viral” in 2016 when we introduced the viral service, and now we’re “going viral” again!

Dear scientists using AAV,

We hear your questions! How much virus should I inject? How long do I need to wait? What serotype and promoter should I use to target my favorite neurons?

We don’t know all of the answers, but we’re betting that your colleagues do. That’s why we’re launching the AAV Data Hub. The Data Hub is an open platform for scientists using AAV to share practical information about their experiences. It will contain all of the juicy and important details that you won’t find in the final publication and we have already collected over 100 entries spanning six different species and dozens of different expression sites.

Over the past decades, neuroscientists have made great strides to map brain regions and allocate specific functions to them. Electrical recordings and lesioning studies have been essential for this task. However, most lesioning methods destroy areas larger than intended and may unintentionally remove connecting pathways between other distant regions. They also don’t give any clues about the types of neurons involved or whether their involvement is activating, inhibiting, or modulating. Viral vectors, in contrast, are considerably more versatile and specific in how they manipulate neuronal function, with far fewer side effects compared to lesioning methods -  they may be the key to further unraveling the mysteries of behavior.

Since the beginning of our viral service in 2016, we’ve added many new tools to our inventory of ready-to-use viral vectors. Here are some of the AAV we have released in the last few months. You can also browse our entire AAV inventory.

Our new AAVs include:

• EGFP-expressing AAV for serotype testing
• Calcium sensors and GABA sensors
• Optogenetics
• Recombinases
• And more!

The aim of behavioral neuroscience is to define brain areas that are linked to a certain behavior. It is a very old branch of science, dating back several hundred years, with historical ties to psychology and philosophy (the mind-body problem). Because of the availability of tools for genetic manipulations, mice have become the model of choice for many behavioral studies, though other organisms such as rats or zebrafish are also used. With the development of viral vectors, behavioral neuroscientists can now precisely control where and when certain genes are expressed to investigate their role in a specific behavior. This blog post will give an introduction to behavioral neuroscience, and address experimental design considerations used in all behavioral studies.