Noldus Information Technology BV

Participant's Lead

Project Staff

Project Staff

Partner Presentation

Noldus Information Technology BV develops tools and systems for measurement and analysis of animal and human behavior. Increasingly, scientists in academia and industry are asking for automated measurement of animal behavior in semi-natural conditions. For this purpose we develop instrumented home cage systems, in which rodent behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations can be measured in a non-intrusive manner. Furthermore, develop computer vision and pattern recognition technology for automated behavior detection. We believe that this approach has significant potential in research on animal models for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Noldus products are used worldwide in basic and applied scientific research at universities, research institutes, hospitals and industrial laboratories. The company was founded in 1989 by Dr. Lucas Noldus and currently employs 130 people, of whom 35 in Research & Development. Noldus has an internationally leading position in the market for behavioural research systems with an installed base of ~ 6,500 organizations in over 85 countries.

Our R&D department is equipped with a modern computer vision research laboratory, image processing and software development tools (C++, C#, .NET), data analysis tools (Matlab, Theme) and a usability testing lab. At our sister company Delta Phenomics BV, we have access to a 600 m2 animal facility with behavioural testing equipment, including 80 instrumented home cage systems (PhenoTyper); gait analysis system (CatWalk); standard behavioural neuroscience test apparatus; video tracking systems (EthoVision); and observational data collection systems (The Observer).

Noldus has participated in many EU-funded research projects, including OBSERVE (FP4), NITE (FP5), HILAS (FP6), AMIDA (FP6), PRONTO (FP7), Neuromodel (FP7) and iCareNet (FP7).

Noldus Information Technology is active in knowledge dissemination, as the initiator and organizer of the biennial international Measuring Behavior conferences (www.measuringbehavior.org), and by organizing symposia and workshops around the globe. Measuring Behavior, held for the 8th time in 2012, is entirely focused on methods, techniques and tools for the study of behaviour.

Within the EU-AIMS project, we work with UMC Utrecht and Hoffman-La Roche on the measurement and analysis of home cage activity, with special emphasis on the detection of stereotypies and repetitive movements, and the development of software to automate such analysis.