News archive

2016

 

"Metris participates in scientific project BriteN" (11 April 2016)

"Food is important for a healthy development of body and brain. But how do we get an insight into what nutrition is good for us?"   Together with researchers from the Donders Institute (Radboud University), UMC Nijmegen, TNO, Mead Johnson Nutrition and the companies Artinis and Green Dino we will work on developing a platform to test the effects of food interventions on the brain development. This project aims to reduce the risk of obesity in children and lower the chance on developing a metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is associated with the increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Test environments will be created to measure cognitive development in both laboratory animals as well as children to investigate the mechanisms of developing obsity.

Metris will develop an interactive test environment for rats using the latest touchscreen technology. The touchscreen will be combined with Metris' proven LABORAS technology. For BriteN LABORAS will be expanded with new functionality to support the animal models which are required for the cognitive testing and obsity research. The BriteN project is subsidised by EFRO. For more information (in Dutch)

 

2013

 

"Metris launches the SmartChamber" (16 March 2013)

SmartChamber is the latest product in the Metris portfolio and provides the ideal environment for high quality Ultrasonic Vocalization measurements, not offered by other Sound Attenuation Chambers. In addition it is an answer to the growing requests for a measurement environment in which external unwanted stimuli and crosstalk between measurement cages is minimized. For more information refer to the SmartChamber pages on our webiste

"1st Announcement, Symposium on PTSD and other stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders in Armenia (21 Feb. 2013)

 

Metris B.V., International "Stress & Behavior" Society (ISBS) and the Orbeli Institute organize a special symposium on PTSD and other stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders to be held from September 20 to September 21, 2013 in Yerevan (Armenia).
The Symposium, and its special session on - “ PTSD effects on genetics (Genocide, war and violence influence on genetics and behaviour) will be, to the best of our knowledge, the first scientific meeting on this topic.

The Symposium will be in conjunction with the Jubilee Conference of the Orbeli Institute in Yerevan taking place from September 22 to September 24, 2013. The L.A. Orbeli Institute of Physiology was founded in 1943, and named after Prof. Leon A. Orbeli, a prominent neuroscientist and Pavlov’s friend and follower. Currently, the Institute is a leading center of neuroscience research in Armenia, and a regular host of various scientific forums and national and international neuroscience meetings.



More information on the symposium can be found in the Conference Flyer. For the latest information, please check back on this news page or the ISBS home page.

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2011

 

"Inside View feature about Laboras in Nature Magazine" (July 7, 2011)

Recently, Nature Publishing has interviewed Metris CEO Ronald Bulthuis for an Inside View article about the LABORAS technology. The interview will be placed in the 7th of July issue of their globally distributed and and highly respected Nature Magazine. Ronald Bulthuis talks about the innovations and benefits of the LABORAS technology for the research community. The complete Nature article can be found in our publication section under 2011 publications.

 

"Metris selected for TNO SBIR Feasibility Study" (June 24, 2011)

TNO has selected Metris as one of the 12 companies that will be funded to perform a Feasibility Study as part of the 7th TNO SBIR innovation program. The feasibility study addresses both, the technical and the commercial feasibility to create a system that can record and analyze the development of rat mother and pups. The proposed system (Mo-Chi Tracker) is unique in the sense that the mother rat and her pups together are considered the measuring unit and are monitored and measured simultaneously and non-invasively, so preventing stress. The system will be based on a product idea of Dr. Didima de Groot and colleagues of TNO Zeist. The envisioned system is aimed to address a niche ‘need’ within the developmental and reproductive toxicity field. The current alternative to the Mo-Chi Tracker is human observation and handling which is time consuming and is not cost efficient, and moreover induces stress.
For more information about the Mo-Chi Tracker please fill in the Information Request Form on our website.

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2010

 

Remarkable and high quality grooming detection capability of LABORAS cited in a scientific paper by Dr. Capecchi and colleagues (University of Utah) published in Cell (May 28, 2010)

The University of Utah, Dep. Human Genetics has a LABORAS system with 8 platforms (since 2003) which is frequently used in their research programs. A recent scientific study by University of Utah (Mario Capecchi and colleagues) published in Cell (28th May, 2010) presents interesting insights in the compulsive grooming behavior exhibited by mice with a mutation in the Hoxb8 gene. The study made extensive use of the LABORAS platform to detect the grooming behavior and also distinguish it from the scratching behavior. The study cites LABORAS grooming detection capability as being “remarkably accurate” in comparison to human observation!! Furthermore, the study highlights direct links between immune system dysfunction and behavioral disorders.



In this PaperClip published on the Cell website (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc.), Karen Carniol speaks with Prof. Dr. Mario Capecchi (2007 Nobel price winner) about the hematopoietic origins of compulsive behavior. Interview with Prof. Dr. Mario Capecchi

 

"New developments Laboras" (April 5, 2010)

Metris is working on several new modules for Laboras that will further expand the multi functional capabilities of the Laboras technology. The following new modules will be introduced:
- Sociability Cage (availability: now)
- Light-Dark Cage (availability: June 2010)
- Scratching detection in rats (availability: June 2010)

More information about our on going developments can be found in the "In Development" section of our website.

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2009

 

"Metris and Porsolt join forces to promote preclinical screening using LABORAS technology " (November 5, 2009)

Metris and Porsolt join forces to promote preclinical screening using LABORAS, a non-invasive technology for automatic and comprehensive in vivo characterization of drug candidates.  Under this alliance, Porsolt will offer CRO services utilising the innovative in vivo screening platform to its clients. The Laboras system enables the measurement of multiple behavioral pharmacodynamic endpoints in a single experiment utilising a high throughput non-invasive system. More information can be found in the press release.

 Press release

 

"Metris launches the Sociality Cage for LABORAS" (January 20, 2009)

 

To investigate the complex genetics of social behaviors, mouse models of social dysfunction have been designed that are relevant to human disease symptoms. LABORAS provides an objective methodology to use these mouse models and score the social interactions.

The design of the Sociality Cage allows quantitating preference of a mouse for spending time with a stranger mouse vs. empty environment, as well as preference for a newly introduced unfamiliar mouse vs. a familiar mouse.
The Sociality Cage is a three compartments cage with small "doors" that allow the animal to move freely from one compartment to another. The doors can be closed to control the experiment. In the left and right compartments there are small cages, designed for the so called "stranger mouse".
LABORAS automatically calculates the number of transisitions from the center to the left and right compartment, the durations in every compartment, the latency times to move from the center to left and right compartment and also the duration in and number of transitions to the contact zone (the area around the small cages with the stranger or familiar mouse)

The automatic tracking of the mouse by LABORAS is demonstrated in the following movies
(mouse starts in the central room, familiar mouse in left compartment; no mouse in right compartment):

   Sociality Cage Movie #1

   Sociality Cage Movie #2

The Sociality Cage concept might be used in studying neuropsychiatric diseases such as autism, William's syndrome, social phobias and schizophrenia.

The study concept is based on the following publication:
 Automated apparatus for quantitation of social approach behaviors in mice

More details will be made available on our website on short notice.

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2008

 

"Metris to present its products on 3rd Russian Toxicology conference" (November 1, 2008)

From December the 1st to the 5th Metris will present its products on the biggest Toxicology conference in Eastern Europe. The conference that is organized for the 3rd time will be held just outside Moscow and is expected to attract hundreds of leading researchers and PhD's in several fields of Toxicology. The conference that is focused on Russia and other CIS countries is also open for delegates from other countries.
Technical Director Dr. Levon Bachdasarian will present the unique advantages and possibilities of the Metris products Laboras, SonoTrack and Sleepsign in Toxicological research and Safety pharmacology. The Metris products are already used by several leading Russian institutes in the field of pre-clinical research.
For more information or to schedule an appointment with us, please contact us at info@metris.nl or check the conference website http://www.rpohv.ru/tox.

Presentation Levon Bachdasarian

"Metris starts development of Ultrasound playback functionality in SonoTrack" (February 1, 2008)

Metris and her development partner National Instruments started the development of a SonoTrack version that can reproduce Ultrasound signals of laboratory animals with a very high precision. It is known that ultrasound signals must be reproduced very accurately to evoke a response of the animals. To realize this, the requirements on the ultrasound amplifiers, analog to digital converters and the ultrasound speakers are very stringent. The frequency response has to be flat over a wide range and the system has to be able to generate enough sound pressure to imitate the "real" ultrasound calls of a living animal. It's expected that the new functionality will be available in June 2008.

"Distributor for China and Hong Kong" (January 28, 2008)

As of February 1, "American Health & Medical Supply International Corporation" has become our exclusive distributor for the mainland China including Hong Kong. Metris and her new distributor will work closely together to introduce the Metris products on the quickly growing Chinese market. The companies will investigate the possibilities for a joint presentation of the Metris products on upcoming Neuroscience and Drug Development conferences in China. Chinese language versions of the product information will be made available on short notice.

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2007

"Metris succesful in Russia" (September 13, 2007)

Today, Metris and Retinoids signed a contract for the delivery of LABORAS platforms which will be used to support the pre-clinical research work of Retinoids amongst others in the field of dermatology. Retinoids is a fast growing company working for both national as international customers. Metris that started the first sales activities in Russia about a year ago is close to finalizing several other contracts in Russia for both the LABORAS and SONOTRACK products and will work closely together with the first customers. The first Russian customers will get an extensive training in Amsterdam to get the maximum out of LABORAS.

 

"Research cooperation between Metris and Université de Sherbrooke" (July 1, 2007)

Metris and Sherbrooke's Neuroscience Center jointed forces to investigate the use of Ultrasound Vocalisation in Cancer and Arthritic research. The goal of the cooperation is to find out if ultrasound vocalizations can be used as a useful parameter for chronic pain research. As part of the cooperation Metris provided a 4-channel SONOTRACK unit using the latest hardware and software for a period of several months. Sherbrooke will share the data with Metris which will enable Metris to further improve the data analysis features for chronic pain research in the near future.

 

"Metris develops tool that integrates LABORAS data and video data" (June 27, 2007)

A new developed tool will enable the users of LABORAS to show their recorded LABORAS data, the LABORAS behavior scores and the video recording of an experiment in an integrated way. In this way the experimenter will be able to evaluate the LABORAS scores or to score the periods of time where behaviors occurred that are not in the LABORAS behavioral repetoire. The white line in the middle shows the point in time where LABORAS signals, scores and video are synchronized. The lines left and right of it are respectively the data 1 second ahead and 1s later than the video time.

"Changes in Metris distibrution channels" (January 2007)

We are pleased to announce that as of January 1 Ankara based "Radon Medical" has become our exclusive distributor for Turkey. Before becoming distributor Radon Medikal has already been acting as a sales contact for two years now. More information about Radon Medical can be found on their website.
Metris has chosen for a more direct approach to the European customers and will from now on coordinate all sales and support activities directly from the Metris head quarters in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. As a result, Plexx b.v. will no longer act as Metris distributor for Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandanavia. This change will be effective starting at January 1, 2007. We thank Plexx for the pleasant cooperation over the last few years.

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2006

"Metris releases LABORAS 2.0" (September 1, 2006)

Metris launched the next version of it's flagship product LABORAS. Release 2.0 has many new functions and an improved user interface, making the use of LABORAS even more efficient and a pleasure to use. New functions include amongst others individual start of each LABORAS platform, upto 40% faster data processing, detection of circling/turning, night vision mode (to eliminate monitor light), improved print functionality, etc. Click on the this link for more information.

"Metris Moscow trip 2006" (June 2006)

In June Metris visited Moscow, marking the first step towards the promotion of our products in the Russian Federation. The trip consisted of visits to a number of pharmaceutical companies and institutes and a few factories to investigate the possibilities of future cooperations. Read more about it.

"Second edition of Metris "Vibes" released" (April 2006)

Find out more about our BRAND NEW automatic detection of "Scratching in mice" and "Purposeless chewing in rats" with LABORAS. And read our specials on LABORAS and Telemetry, the latest release of SONOTRACK, version 1.1 and the introduction of SleepSign for Animal in Europe by Metris.

"Metris Asia tour 2006" (April 2006)

In March Metris visited several international distributors and an agent during a 15-day visit to Asia. The trip included the combined tour with Kuo Yang in Taiwan, Scitech Korea Inc. in South Korea, Neuroscience Inc. in Japan and our new agent Medi Analytika Pvt. Ltd. in India. Read more about it.

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2005

"Metris introduces it's newsletter Vibes" (March 2005)

The Metris organization and product portfolio are in a phase of growth and we want to share new developments and innovations with you via our newsletter. This periodical magazine Metris Vibes with information about our teammembers, products, developments, partnerships, etc. can now be dowloaded from our website.

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2004

Dvojica becomes exclusive distributor of LABORAS for Slovenia and Croatia" (Februari 2004)

We are pleased to announce that as of Februari 1 Ljubljana based Dvojica d.o.o. has become our exclusive distributor for the Slovenian and Croatian market. Dvojica is a company with three divisions: Import and Sales of Chemicals, Import and Sales of Laboratory equipment and Provision of full Information Technology solutions. More information about Dvojica can be found on their website.

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2003

"Metris introduces new Ultrasound Analysis system (SONOTRACK)" (November 2003)

A new innovative product "SONOTRACK" is introduced by Metris at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN2003) in New Orleans. The new product is an advanced ultrasound measurement and analysis system that can record up to four independent ultrasound channels. The product is delivered with all the hardware (ultrasound microphones and electronics) and a software package that is able to show the full Ultrasound spectrum in various graphical presentations and to translate the Ultrasound in for human audible frequencies. Due to a clever hardware design (originally developed by the well known contract research organisation TNO in The Netherlands) the system beats most conventional "bat detector based" system in terms of functionality and performance for an affordable price.

"University of Utah, Institute of Human Genetics" first LABORAS customer in the USA (November 2003)

In November Metris installed the first LABORAS system in the USA at "The Institute of Human Genetics" of the University of Utah (Salt Lake City). The institute headed by Prof. Dr. Capecchi will use the LABORAS system in its phenotyping programs. The equipment will primarily be used to help the researchers in phenotyping mice from targeted mutagenesis. One of the transgenic mice strains being investigated is a mouse with a behavioral "grooming" phenotype.

Integration of LABORAS and Datasciences Telemetry near completion (August 20, 2003)

The integration of LABORAS with the Datasciences Dataquest A.R.T. Telemetry equipment is near its completion and is expected to be available later this year. In the integrated system the Datascience telemetry receivers are installed below the LABORAS measurement platforms. Extensive integration tests demonstrated that the telemetry signals are not disturbed by the LABORAS platforms. An important advantage for the user is that both the LABORAS and Dataquest A.R.T. software packages will reliably run on the same PC at the same time. The combined results will be presented in the LABORAS result summary, providing the behaviour, tracking and telemetry data together over user definable time windows and synchronized against the same time axis. The combination of Telemetry data (heart rate, temperature, etc.) , Behavioral data (grooming, eating, drinking, walking, immobility, climbing, etc.) and Tracking data (position, speed, travelled distance, etc.) will make the integrated system the most powerful research tool for animal behaviour and physiology that will be available in the market.

GSK orders another three systems to be used in the Frythe, UK and one system to be used in Verona, Italy (June 30 / July 17, 2003)

Following the successful application of LABORAS at their Harlow site, GlaxoSmithKline recently ordered three additional systems (24 measurement platforms) for use in their Transgenic Phenotyping unit in The Frythe (UK) and another 8 platforms at the GSK R&D site in Verona, Italy. The diversity of GSK departments now using our product, proves the important advantages that LABORAS has to offer in several research areas. Gedeon Richter Ltd. is the first company in Central Eastern Europe that will be using the LABORAS equipment. Founded in 1901, Gedeon Richter is the largest pharmaceutical company in Hungary and one of the largest regional multinational pharmaceutical companies in Central Eastern Europe. Gedeon Richter will use LABORAS in its pain research activities and will also work together with Metris in the development of new software algorithms in LABORAS. Karolinska Institute, internationally recognised for its innovative research, has joined the quickly growing group of LABORAS users. Karolinksa Institute will start to use LABORAS in its research with mice within the next couple of months. Paradigm Therapeutics has selected LABORAS as one of the important tools in its research and development of novel drugs. Paradigm is a new and emerging drug discovery company focussed on novel drug targets identified from the human genome. Metris and Paradigm also agreed to cooperate on the development of one or more new algorithms for the detection of behaviours that are currently not detected by the LABORAS equipment.

Gedeon Richter becomes first LABORAS customer in Eastern Europe (June 27, 2003)

Budapest based

Swedish Karolinska Institute chooses LABORAS (May 12, 2003)

Metris is pleased to announce that the swedish

University of Utrecht (NL) orders latest version of LABORAS (March 1, 2003)

The Laboratory Animal Science Group of the University of Utrecht headed by Prof. Van Zutphen recently ordered the latest version of LABORAS. The group was involved in the early stages of the LABORAS product development about 8 years ago and has been using the previous DOS version of LABORAS in several research projects and studies. Their new LABORAS system will have a much higher resolution and reliability and will also be integrated with the Datascience Telemetry equipment. This combination of systems will automatically provide more behavioral and physiological parameters than any other system available in the market today.

Paradigm Therapeutics (UK) chooses for LABORAS (February 20, 2003)

Cambridge (UK) based

GlaxoSmithkline orders 2 additional LABORAS systems (January 2, 2003)

GlaxoSmithKline has ordered two additional LABORAS systems, that will increase the number of LABORAS systems at their Harlow based facility to 5 and the total number of LABORAS measurement platforms to 40. With this order GlaxoSmithKline underlines the importance of our product in their drug development process and also proofs their continued confidence in our company.

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2002

Metris and DSI investigating integration of Telemetry and LABORAS (August 20, 2002)

Metris and Datascience International have set the first step in the integration of their products LABORAS and Dataquest A.R.T. The integration will provide the user with the best of two worlds: the unique behavior and tracking data of the LABORAS system and the telemetry data (ECG, blood pressure, temperature, etc.) from the Dataquest Telemetry equipment. One of the requirements is that the integration should also be possible with systems that are already fielded (no hardware changes). Both the Dataquest software as well as the LABORAS software will enable the presentation of the data of both systems. The first results will be presented at the conference Measuring Behavior 2002 in Amsterdam (August 28-30, 2002).

KuoYang Scientific exclusive distributor in Taiwan (August 14, 2002)

Taipei based Kuo Yang Scientific Corporation (KYSC) and Metris have signed an exlusive distribution agreement for the sales promotion and support of our product LABORAS on the island of Taiwan. KYSC has many years of experience in selling research equipment to Pharmaceutical companies, Contract Research Organisations and Academical Institutes. The company is well known for its customer-oriented approach and its motivated team being available to provide excellent support on the products they have sold.

AstraZeneca orders LABORAS system for mice and rats (June 27, 2002)

AstraZeneca in Mölndal, Sweden has ordered an eight platform LABORAS system. The configuration will have the latest software (release 1.1) and will enable position tracking and automatic recognition of behaviors in mice and rats. This order also underlines the succes of our cooperation with distributor Plexx, responsible for the distribution of our product in Sweden.

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2001

Plexx becomes exclusive distributor of LABORAS for Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland and Austria (Oct 31, 2001)

As of October 31 Dutch company Plexx B.V. has become the exclusive distributor of our product LABORAS for the following countries: Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Danmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Plexx is a well known company in the field of biomedical supplies and equipment. To underline the cooperation between the companies, Plexx and Metris will exhibit their products together at "De Biotechnische Dagen" in Veldhoven, The Netherlands (31 October - 1 November 2001). More information will be announced soon.

SmithKline launching customer of "LABORAS for Windows" (March. 28, 2001)

Harlow based SmithKline Beecham has ordered three "LABORAS for Windows" systems, the latest version of our product LABORAS. With this order SmithKline Beecham will receive 24 measurement platforms enabling fully automatic behavior scoring for large scale experiments and screening purposes. LABORAS for Windows provides improved measurement platforms, new electronics and a completely new user interface for Windows. But most important the core of the software being the behavioral recognition and position tracking engine has been improved in terms of functionality and reliability. More information on the "LABORAS for Windows" system can be found on this website within a few weeks.

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2000

Primetech Corp. becomes exclusive distributor of LABORAS for Japanese market (Feb. 21, 2000)

As of Februari 21 Tokyo (and Osaka) based Primetech Corporation has become the exclusive distributor of LABORAS in the Japanese market. Primetech Corporation is a well established company in the field of biomedical research equipment. As a first step in the cooperation between both companies, Metris and Primetech will jointly exhibit their products during the upcoming meeting of the Japan Society of Pharmacology (Tokyo, 22-24 March 2000).

Metris exhibitor at the symposium "Behavioural Phenotyping of Mouse Mutants" (Febr. 1, 2000)

The symposium "Behavioural phenotyping of mouse mutants" will be held from February 17 to 19 in Cologne, Germany. Metris will be one of the exhibitors during this symposium and will also attend the workshops on Saterday. More information on this symposium can be found on the symposium website: www.medizin.uni-koeln.de/dekanat/fd/transgenic_mice/index.html.

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1999

Metris at Neuroscience Conference in Miami (September 16, 1999)

Metris will be present at the "Society of Neuroscience 1999" Conference to be held in Miami (FL) in the week of October 23..28. The latest version of our product LABORAS will be on display. If you would like to make an appointment with us please send an e-mail to ronald@metris.nl or just visit our booth (# 1306).

SmithKline Beecham becomes first international customer of LABORAS (July 14, 1999)

Metris and UK based SmithKline Beecham agreed on a joint effort to adjust our product LABORAS to comply with UK guidelines for rodent cages and to improve the automatic detection of behavioural elements in rats. Developments are scheduled to start in July.

Strategic partnership with Scilite Communications (May 16, 1999)

Last month (May 1999) Scilite Communications in Bussum (NL) became a strategic partner of Metris. Scilite will be involved in the international marketing of our products for the pharmaceutical industry. The experience of Scilite in the pharmaceutical industry will be an important factor to cope with the increased interest for our product LABORAS and will help us to improve our understanding of customer requirements.