Biological and Behavioral Approaches to Typical and Atypical Development

Postdoctoral Training Program

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BBTAD Training Laboratories and Resources

Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Research Lab

The Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Research Laboratory, directed by Dr. Anthony Auger, is located within the Department of Psychology. This lab is well equipped to study the biological control of social behavior. His lab contains all the necessary equipment for the processing and analyses for DNA expression arrays, a Real-Time PCR machine used to examine low-level changes in mRNA expression. Molecular tools for the detection of protein expression, such as Western immunoblotting. Furthermore, all the surgical equipment need for manipulation of gene expression using antisense technology and its consequences on social behavior. Postdoctoral Trainees will learn how to identify gene expression patterns in developing brain, manipulate its expression using antisense knockdown technology, and examine the consequences of knockdown on typical and atypical development of social behavior using a rodent model system.

Behavioral Neuroendocrinology of Social Behavior Lab

At the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology of Social Behavior Lab, colonies of California mice (Peromyscus californicus) and white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), established by Dr. Catherine Marler, provide a contrast in paternal behavior, aggression and sexual behavior. She has four rooms for conducting behavioral tests that are equipped with observations cages and video equipment. Dr. Marler's lab is fully equipped for conducting all aspects of immunocytochemistry (assays and analysis) and stereotaxic brain injections. Hormone assays are conducted at the fully equipped assay lab associated with the University of Wisconsin Regional Primate Center.

Biochemical Genetics Lab

The Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, directed by Dr. Jon Wolff, is a basic wet lab for developing non-viral methods for gene transfer. The lab uses state-of-the-art molecular and cellular biologic techniques to accomplish this. He also directs a clinical lab that performs analytic biochemical and molecular assays to aid in the diagnosis of children with mental retardation and developmental delays. He directs a Biochemical Genetics clinical service that services Wisconsin and surrounding states.

Child Emotion Research Lab

The Child Emotion Research Laboratory, directed by Dr. Seth Pollak, is based on two sites. One lab, located in the Department of Psychology, has eight contiguous rooms: two for testing of child participants, one for parent evaluations, one for EEG preparation, a data control room, and three rooms for data analyses, lab administration, and secure data storage. A NeuroScan Synamps CD/AC High-Speed EEG amplifier, with 64 channels for electrophysiological recording, is capable of low-noise amplification, 16-bit analog-to-digital conversion, and digital filtering, allowing data acquisition in discrete epochs at rates of 20 KHz (per 32 channel) or up to 1KHz (for four channels). A second NeuroScan workstation allows for editing, signal processing, and analyses of psychophysiological data. For ERP studies, 17, 21 and 27monitors are available for display of stimuli. The second lab, located at the Waisman Center, has a large room for child neuropsychological and gross motor testing, a secure room for data storage, and an office that serves as the administrative base for the Wisconsin International Adoption Project.

Conceptual Knowledge Lab

The Conceptual Knowledge Lab, directed by Dr. Timothy Rogers, is located in the Department of Psychology. The lab contains a dedicated eye-tracking room equipped with both remote and head-mounted optics (from Applied Science Laboratories), as well as a magnetic head-tracker that allows for tracking of gaze in a 3d environment. The lab also contains standard psychological testing facilities, including testing carrels equipped with PCs that run E-prime. Trainees interested in computational modeling will have access to computers optimized for fast data processing.

Harlow Center for Biological Psychology

The Harlow Center for Biological Psychology, directed by Dr. Christopher Coe, is a three-story, 30,000 sq ft building containing a breeding colony of 500 rhesus monkeys. This facility enables the creation of 75-100 new infants each year for developmental studies. Perhaps most critical for Dr. Coe's research on typical and atypical development is that the breeding colony permits the control and manipulation of pregnancy conditions, enabling the study of prenatal influences from conception through term, and prospective, longitudinal evaluation of the infant postpartum. In addition, Dr. Coe maintains a fully equipped immune lab, capable of conducting most assays of cellular and humoral immunity. His biochemical lab also serves as the Biological Core for several large-scale human projects, and currently he is assisting several developmental programs with assessments of Herpes viruses. Trainees will thus have the opportunity to participate in research involving animal modeling, or to learn to conduct several different types of bench assays with human specimens.

Infant Learning Lab

The Infant Learning Lab, directed by Dr. Jenny Saffran, is located at the Waisman Center. The lab contains three sound-attenuated booths set up for infant behavioral tasks. The booths are equipped with custom software for use with the Headturn Preference Procedure, which is the standard task for auditory learning procedures. The booths are also equipped with video screens for presentation of visual stimuli using the Habit software program, and for use in cross-modal learning paradigms. Infant participants are recruited using the Waisman Center's participant database. Postdoctoral Trainees will have access to state-of-the-art equipment and methodologies for a range of infant testing procedures.

Integrative Behavioral Neuroscience Lab

Integrative Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, directed by Dr. Ann Kelley, is located within the Department of Psychiatry. The lab contains five animal behavioral testing rooms, an animal holding space, a wet lab/surgery area, a molecular biology lab, and a cellular imaging/microscopy room. Postdoctoral Trainees will have the unique opportunity to be trained in an environment that integrates sophisticated behavioral measurements with modern neuroscience techniques.

Kalin Laboratories

Eight fully equipped research labs, directed by Dr. Ned H. Kalin, are located at the Department of Psychiatry's Wisconsin Psychiatric Institute and Clinics (WISPIC). This space includes 3,500 sq. ft. dedicated to developmental neurobiology, analytical biochemistry and molecular biology. Dr. Kalin also conducts research at the Harlow Center for Biological Psychology, the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, and the W. M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior. The Cyclotron Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical Sciences Center houses the cyclotron and control rooms, radiochemistry labs, research PET scanner, electronics development labs, and smaller rooms for HPLC, GC, and other chemical analyses (5,050 sq. ft.).

Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

The Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, directed by Dr. Maryellen MacDonald and Dr. Mark Seidenberg, is located in the Department of Psychology. The lab contains extensive facilities for behavioral studies of language comprehension, language production, and working memory. Facilities include 12 participant testing computers equipped with experiment development software (E-Prime and others) to present speech, pictures, words, and connected text. Digital audio and video recording equipment are linked to the experiment software to record participant language productions when needed. Both a remote and a lightweight head-mounted eye-tracker are available. The lab also has access to extensive word frequency counts, language corpora, and data extraction tools for investigating the nature of the linguistic environment.

Dr. Mark Seidenberg co-directs the Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab in the Department of Psychology, with a satellite lab at the Waisman Center. The Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab includes student and post-doc offices, a meeting room, and rooms to test human research participants in behavioral studies. The lab includes multiprocessor computers for running simulations models. Dr. Seidenberg's lab at the Waisman Center is used for behavioral testing of human research participants in conjunction with data collected for his neuroimaging studies at the Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging.

Language Comprehension Lab and the University of Wisconsin Research on Autism Project

The Language Comprehension Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin Research on Autism Project, directed by Dr. Morton Ann Gernsbacher, are both located in the Department of Psychology. The Language Comprehension Laboratory comprises eight rooms, two dedicated to the simultaneous testing of multiple participants in reaction time and other cognitive psychological experiments. Auditory, literary, and non-literary visual stimuli can be presented to individual research participants whose dependent variables can include vocal onset time, discourse to be analyzed, or complex reaction time. The Research on Autism Project primarily conducts assessments in the field (in the homes of children with autism). To date, Dr. Gernsbacher has successfully amassed as sample of children with autism in Dane County that exceeds 200 and captures 80% of the cases identified by the public schools and other service agencies.

Language Processes Lab

The Language Processes Lab, directed by Dr. Susan Ellis Weismer, is located at the Waisman Center. The lab consists of a data-acquisition suite, with one-way mirror and observation room, a central data reduction and analysis lab, and three separate rooms used for development of testing protocol, digitizing audio and video files, and language sample transcription and analysis. This lab is equipped with E-prime software for designing and delivering experimental (auditory and visual) stimuli, CSpeech software for acoustic analysis of speech, SALT and CHAT software for coding and analyzing spoken language samples, and Procoder software for video coding of prelinguistic behaviors.

Meyerand Lab

A lab, directed by Dr. Mary Meyerand, is located in the UW Hospital (which is adjacent to the Waisman Center). Dr. Meyerand has access to five clinical MRI scanners and is provided 20 hours of development time per week for free on these scanners. Her lab is populated by a diverse group of Trainees from the Departments of Medical Physics, Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Statistics, and Neuroscience. This diversity is a great strength when studying clinical problems and will be a great asset to the Training Program's Trainees.

Mother-Infant Interaction Lab

The Mother-Infant Interaction Laboratory, directed by Dr. Lewis Leavitt, is located at the Waisman Center. This facility includes state-of-the-art equipment to capture signals in parent-infant interaction and to study parents' sensitivity to infant signals. Trainees can learn mathematical algorithms to model these interactions. Dr. Leavitt studies both typically and atypically developing children, including children with Fragile X and autism. Dr. Leavitt also heads the Developmental Disabilities Clinic, located at the Waisman Center. The Developmental Disabilities Clinic offers specialized diagnostic and assessment services to persons who have, or are suspected of having, developmental problems. This includes such concerns as developmental delays, need for educational programming, challenging behaviors, or disorders of communication, motor, or social-emotional development.

MR Imaging Facility

The MR imaging facility, directed by Dr. Andrew Alexander, is located in the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior at the Waisman Center. This facility contains a state-of-the-art 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner for human neuroimaging research, including systems for visual and auditory stimuli presentation while in the scanner, eye tracking for monitoring attention and gaze, and response button boxes and joy sticks for use inside the MRI scanner. A mock MRI simulator suite is housed nearby for training and acclimating research participants to the MRI scanner environment and functional tasks to be performed in the scanner. The scanner is ideally situated in close proximity to other resources in the Keck lab including a human PET scanner, a linear accelerator for producing PET isotopes, a high-density EEG recording system, and a computer lab for advanced image analysis.

Neural Systems and Behavior Lab

The Neural Systems and Behavior Laboratory, directed by Dr. Craig Berridge, is located within the Department of Psychology. The lab contains equipment for one set-up for electrophysiological recordings in unanesthetized rats using multi-electrode recordings (Plexon Instruments); two set-ups for single unit electrophysiological recordings in anesthetized rats; four HPLC with electrochemical detection systems; 10 sound attenuated chambers equipped with video and EEG/EMG recording devices; an immunohistochemistry lab complete with cryostat, refrigerators, and an Olympus BX51 fluorescent microscope and a Zeiss MR Axiocam high resolution digital camera.

Neuroendocrinology Lab

The Neuroendocrinology Lab, directed by Dr. Ei Terasawa, is located at the Primate Center. The lab contains three rooms, totaling 1200 sq. ft., where tissue cultures, patch clamp recording, calcium imaging, in vitro perifusion experiments, neurochemical analysis with HPLC, molecular biology (PCR, RPA, western blotting, etc) and histological studies (standard staining procedure, immunocytochemistry, and in situ hybridization) are conducted. The Primate Center has facilities for various assays (RIA, EIA for proteins and steroids), in vivo experiments (a booth set up) for microdialysis sampling, a confocal microscope, a primate information center, and computer services.

Phonology Clinic and Lab

The Phonology Clinic and Laboratory, directed by Dr. Raymond Kent, is located at the Waisman Center. The Phonology Clinic provides speech therapy services for preschool and school-age children, with treatment programs supported by research conducted in the Phonology Laboratory. Assessment and treatment take advantage of augmented phonetic transcription with computer-based acoustic displays of speech. Transcription and data entry are also accomplished through the lab's digital technology. The lab also has access to a large (300 case), MR imaging database of head, face and vocal tract structures that spans the entire developmental period and comprises typically and atypically developing cases. A similar computerized tomography (CT) image database has recently been acquired.

Sleep Research Lab

The Sleep Research Laboratory, directed by Dr. Ruth Benca, is located at the Wisconsin Psychiatric Institute and Clinics. The lab includes approximately eight large testing rooms for continuous electrophysiological and behavioral recording of rats, pigeons, and sparrows. Rooms are equipped with electroencephalographic recording equipment, apparatus to perform sleep deprivation, video cameras and operant testing chambers. A surgical suite and fully equipped molecular labs are available on site.

Schneider Research

Dr. Mary Schneider conducts her research at the Harlow Center for Biological Psychology and the Keck Lab. The Harlow Center for Biological Psychology has a dedicated behavioral testing section with rooms exclusively equipped for Dr. Schneider's research (cognitive testing, sensory processing, and prepulse inhibition). The Harlow Center also contains a biochemical lab for the safe handling of blood from the monkeys and a fully-equipped area designated for the preparation and storage of blood samples. The Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center includes a full support staff for hormone assays. The Keck lab houses a tandem accelerator for the production of the short half-life tracers for PET and the Concorde Microsystems microPET P4 animal scanner dedicated fully to research. The Keck Laboratory also houses a 3 Tesla GE SIGNA MRI which Dr. Schneider uses in her research for co-registration of the PET images.

Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior

The Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior is directed by Dr. Richard Davidson. This lab houses a 3T research-dedicated MRI scanner, a human PET scanner, a small bore microPET scanner for non-human primate and rodent studies, an accelerator for the production of short-half-life radiotracers, a transcranial magnetic stimulation device for producing non-invasive functional disruptions of selective cortical circuitry, and extensive computing facilities. In addition, the Keck Lab houses a large personnel infrastructure and physics core who provide expertise in data acquisition and post-processing methods. Trainees will have exposure to one of the most well-equipped and integrated facilities of its kind in the country.

Wisconsin Twin Project

The Wisconsin Twin Project, directed by Dr. Hill Goldsmith, conducts research on affect and both typical and atypical early development at two labs--one at the Waisman Center and another in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Goldsmith also maintains a decade-long collaboration in research centered in the Department of Psychiatry. The labs contain a wide array of work stations for data coding and analysis, observational suites for video recording of behavior, interview rooms, and offices. All are suitably equipped with computers (about 30), state-of-the-art digital video equipment, and specialized research and storage (e.g., a large -80 degree freezer) items. A professional (full-time, non-trainee) research staff comprises 15 individuals.

• UW-Madison
• Waisman Center
• Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior
• Harlow Center for Biological Psychology