Jackson Lab partners with 'animal housing' firm on AI cage-monitoring system
Image / Courtesy, The Jackson Laboratory
The technology incorporates viewing modules housing high-resolution infrared cameras that feed data to cloud-based AI software.
The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institution in Bar Harbor, has developed a high-tech system for monitoring mice the lab uses to study human disease.
The lab has partnered with Allentown Inc., an Allentown, N.J., maker of animal housing, to launch a home-cage mouse monitoring system that integrates with JAX’s cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning software.
The goal is to accelerate preclinical research and help translate data from that work to clinical applications, according to a news release.
The system uses a cloud-based AI program, called Envision, that was developed by JAX to capture and display digital measurements of mouse behavior and physiology within the “home cage" — where a lab animal spends most of its life.
The lab said it paired its software with a “housing solution” made by Allentown, called Discovery IVC — with IVC standing for “individually ventilated cage.”
Together, the Envision platform and the Discovery IVC are designed to provide 24/7 monitoring, with the goal of enhancing husbandry operations, facility management and animal care.
The technology incorporates a viewing module above each cage, according to Allentown. Each module houses a high-resolution infrared camera that identifies the animals by viewing through the cage top and provides uniform lighting to the cages. Data is transmitted from the modules to the cloud-based Envision software.
JAX touted the monitoring approach as more efficient and more naturalistic, minimizing disturbances for the animal while providing continuous monitoring.
The Envision software is designed to provide high-definition monitoring, cloud-based data storage and advanced machine learning, and to facilitate real-time behavioral monitoring of individual animals in the cage, according to JAX.
As a web-based app, Envision and its data can be accessed by users from anywhere as they monitor and analyze mice behaviors.
"We are excited to partner with Allentown to produce this system which ultimately will change how research with animal models is conducted," said Mitchell Kennedy, the lab’s executive vice president and president of its mice, clinical and research services.
He added, “Envision is a cornerstone in JAX’s larger mission of bridging the gap between preclinical research and real-world clinical settings."
The system is debuting this week at the American Association for Laboratory Animal Conference in Nashville, Tenn., according to the release.
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