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Assistant Professor

 

Ph.D. Developmental Psychology
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
3601 4th Street Lubbock, TX 79430-6540
 jeremy.d.bailoo@ttuhsc.edu

Research Interests

I am a Developmental Psychobiologist who studies animals to gain insight into how genetic and environmental factors contribute to individual differences in health and welfare across lifespan. My research is organized under three core areas. The first evaluates whether the manner in which we house and care for laboratory animals affects their welfare, the validity of the models for which they are used, and the generalizability and reproducibility of experimental results derived from such use. The second evaluates how exposure to environmental toxins in diet, such as arsenic, are associated with presentation of behavioral and physiological correlates of neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. The third is focused on the refinement of existing as well as the development of novel behavioral phenotyping tasks for use in health-related biomedical research and for assessments of animal welfare. As a mentor and educator, I am committed to providing access to opportunities for groups underrepresented in science. As an academic, I am committed to engaging in public education and dialogue with the goal of contributing to local and broad efforts to improve understanding and protect public interests in humane and ethical scientific research.

Current Projects

Health consequences of chronic exposure to arsenicals in diet
The toxicity of arsenic depends critically on its speciation. Generally, inorganic species of arsenic are considered toxic while organic forms are not. Increasing evidence, however, suggests that certain organic arsenicals are toxic and pose a significant health concern; we are chronically exposed to organic arsenicals in our diet. Our collaborative team is involved in synthetic synthesis of arsenicals (Dr. Findlater, UC Merced), characterization of arsenicals (Dr. Deonarine, TTU) and evaluation of the biobehavioral consequences of exposure (Dr. Bailoo, Ï㽶ֱ²¥).

Refinement and development of behavioral assessments in laboratory animals
Existing tests of behavioral phenotypes in laboratory animals often fail to consider the needs of the animal being tested. Our lab focuses on the development of and refinement of behavioral paradigms in mice, rats and pigs. We are heavily focused on tasks which involve voluntary participation, minimization of stress (e.g., via extensive handling, no food restriction) and which better recapitulate the phenotypes that we are trying to model (generally in humans). In addition, we employ state of the art technology and materials to improve the precision of phenotype readout in existing and novel tasks (e.g., infrared backlighting during automated tracking). All of these issues are couched within the broader framework of improving rigor and reproducibility in behavioral aspects of biomedical research.

The extent that standard practices for housing and care contribute to translational failure
Current practices for housing and care of laboratory animals are predicated on a paucity of empirical evidence. Many of the current standards are based on economics (minimal use of space, equipment and
labor), ergonomics (ease of handling, visibility of animals), hygiene (easy to sanitize) and standardization (minimization of variation). Our research evaluates all three of these concepts to identify whether and how standard practices for housing and care are lacking and where the empirical evidence points to achievable improvements.

Selected Publications

• Mobilization of arsenic from bituminous coal fly ash in the presence of dissolved organic matter.  Deonarine, A., Kolker, A., Foster, A., Doughten, M., Holland, J., & Bailoo, J. D. (2021).  Applied Geochemistry, 104950. DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2021.104950
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between social dominance status and common behavioral  phenotypes in male laboratory mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. Varholick, J. A., Bailoo, J. D., Voekl, B., & Würbel, H. (2021).  Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 14:624036. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00232
• Effects of weaning age and housing conditions on phenotypic differences in mice. Bailoo, J. D., Voekl, B., Varholick, J. A., Novak, J., Murphy, E., Russo, M., Palme, R., & Würbel, H. (2020). Scientific Reports, 10 (11684). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68549-3 
• Social dominance hierarchy type and rank contributes to phenotypic variation within cages of laboratory mice. Vaholick, J. A., Pontiggia, A., Murphy, E., Daniele, V., Palme, R., Voelkl, B., Würbel, H., & Bailoo, J. D. (2019). Scientific Reports, 9 (13650). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49612-0
• Effects of cage enrichment on behaviour, welfare and outcome variability in female laboratory mice. Bailoo, J. D., Murphy, E., Boada-Saña, M., Varholick, J. A., Hintze, S., Baussier, C., Hahn, K. C., Göpfert, C., Palme, R., Voelkl, B. &  Würbel, H. (2018). Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12:232. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00232
• Phenotypic variability between social dominance ranks in laboratory mice. Varholick, J. A., Bailoo, J. D., Palme, R. and Würbel, H. (2018). Scientific Reports, 8(6593). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24624-4
• A cross-species judgement bias task: integrating active trial initiation into a spatial go/no-go task. Hintze, S., Melotti, L., Colosio, S., Bailoo, J. D., Boada-Saña, M., Würbel, H., & Murphy, E. (2018).  Scientific Reports, 8:5104. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23459-3
• Evaluation of the effects of space allowance on measures of animal welfare in laboratory mice. Bailoo, J. D., Murphy, E., Varholick, J. A., Novak, J., Palme, R., & Würbel, H. (2018). Scientific Reports, 8:713. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18493-6
• Arsenic speciation in bituminous coal fly ash and transformations in response to redox conditions. Deonarine, A., Kolker, A., Foster, A., Doughten, M., Holland, J., Bailoo, J. D. (2016). Environmental Science & Technology, 50(11), 6099-6106. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b00957
• Refinement of experimental design and conduct in Laboratory Animal Research. Bailoo, J. D., Reichlin, T. S., & Würbel, H. (2014).  Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, 55(3), 383-391. DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilu037
• Experimenter effects on behavioral test scores of eight inbred mouse strains under the influence of ethanol. Bohlen, M. B., Hayes, E. R., Bohlen, B., Bailoo, J. D., Wahlsten, D. L. & Crabbe, J. C. (2014). Behavioural Brain Research, 272, 46-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.06.017
• The precision of video and photocell tracking systems and the elimination of tracking errors with infrared backlighting. Bailoo, J. D., Bohlen, M. O., & Wahlsten, D. L. (2010).  Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 188, 42-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2010.01.035