MURIDAE Research Cluster

MURIDAE is a standardised, integrated platform for early-life phenotyping in the mouse to better understand developmental trajectories in neuropsychiatric disorders.

MURIDAE (Modalities for Understanding Recording and Integrating Data Across Early life) is a research cluster within the MRC National Mouse Genetics Network (NMGN) that is led by Cardiff University and includes co-investigators within the Universities of Bristol, Leeds, and Lancaster, King’s College London, the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and the UKRI: Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator.

Abnormal brain maturation early in life is critical in the development of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Yet, crucial gaps in our understanding of this remain - exactly when brain development is perturbed early in life, why it can lead to mental health problems, and how modelling of the underlying genetic and pathological mechanisms can be harnessed therapeutically.

MURIDAE will address these challenges by using mouse models to fully characterise these critical time windows.

First, we will establish new, integrated approaches for studying the early postnatal period in the mouse. The key to this will be linking the emergence of changes in behaviour in early life with changes in brain development and connectivity. We will then apply this platform to new translational genetic mouse models of neuropsychiatric disorders, guided by the latest genomic discoveries made by clinical partners, such as the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics.

We aim to identify early changes in brain and behaviour that are antecedent to adult abnormalities. This will allow us to define novel, critical intervention points for neuropsychiatric disorders during early life. With guidance from partners with translational expertise, including the Medicines Discovery Institute in Cardiff, we will then test the clinical relevance of these by restoring brain function in our mouse models using genetic techniques and therapeutics. This will validate these intervention points and provide clinicians with the ability to improve and even predict neuropsychiatric outcomes.

Enquiries

For more information regarding our research and how you can interact with MURIDAE contact: