Waltzing Mice @ Velo!

Amanda Barkley-Levenson, a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, and Kelsey Holland-Rayle, an illustration major at PNCA (the Pacific Northwest College of Art), teamed up this week to present a lively introduction to the fascinating history of how mice studied in genetic and behavioral research came to be…

The tale (tail?) involved passionate mouse fanciers in England and Japan, “sacred” mice from China, and the tireless work of committed women and men who laid the groundwork for the various strains now used to model everything from drug dependence to dementia…

Kelsey created extraordinary and engaging illustrations of these various mice, including the “Black-6,” used in studies of alcohol dependence due to its great love of drinking (along with a few other distinct characteristics, listed below)…

This reminded a few of the happy crowd at Velo Cult – which once again generously donated $1/pint that night to support WSUV/OHSU/PSU/PNCA neuroscience/art outreach in Vancouver and Portland public schools :)…

Kelsey also created an interactive “build a mouse” project, and kids of all ages thronged her poster to choose coat colors, tail lengths, ear shapes, and other genetically influenced traits for their creative new rodents…