ConductPhenotype
Continuous 24/7 home-cage phenotyping — circadian rhythms, locomotor activity, feeding, drinking, and metabolism — derived from video. Get actograms, free-running period, and rhythm amplitude without running wheels or implanted telemetry.
- 24/7 home-cage
- No running wheels
- No implants
- Powered by ConductVision tracking
Activity (cyan) concentrates in the dark phase; the leftward drift is a free-running period of τ ≈ 23.7 h under constant darkness.
24/7
Continuous monitoring
2–4 wk
Circadian profiling window
τ ± 0.1 h
Free-running period resolution
0
Wheels or implants required
Why home-cage phenotyping from video
Running wheels and implanted telemetry are invasive, low-throughput, and miss most of the phenotype. ConductPhenotype reads the same rhythms from ordinary home-cage video.
No wheels, no surgery
Wheel-running and implanted probes alter behavior and cap throughput. Video tracking is non-invasive and scales to whole racks.
Activity-only misses the clock
A single activity channel hides feeding, drinking, and metabolic rhythms. ConductPhenotype captures the full behavioral clock at once.
No manual actogram scoring
Onset, offset, period, and amplitude are computed automatically — no hand-drawing actograms or eyeballing periodograms.
One platform, the whole behavioral clock
Activity rhythms
Distance, velocity, and motion-energy binned to 1/5/10 min — the raw signal for onset, offset, and day/night ratio.
Circadian metrics
Free-running period (τ), amplitude, phase, fragmentation, and interdaily stability under LD, DD, or LL.
Actogram generation
Automated single- and double-plotted actograms with light/dark annotation and onset markers.
Feeding & drinking rhythms
Meal and drinking timing, frequency, size, and the dark/light intake ratio across the 24-hour day.
Spectral analysis
FFT, Lomb–Scargle, chi-square periodogram, and cosinor (mesor / amplitude / acrophase) for objective rhythm strength.
Circadian-metabolic (add-on)
Pair with indirect calorimetry for VO₂, VCO₂, RER, and energy-expenditure rhythms alongside the behavioral clock.
Every metric is a documented, citable endpoint
Each readout links to a Science Library page with its definition, units, confounds, reporting checklist, and references — so your methods section writes itself.
From home-cage video to actogram
The same DeepLabCut / EthoVision tracking that powers ConductVision feeds a continuous circadian pipeline.
Continuous tracking
Any home-cage camera
- Timestamp + X/Y position
- Days to weeks, uninterrupted
- DeepLabCut / EthoVision / home-cage
Activity metric
Per-frame → per-minute
- Distance traveled / min
- Velocity & motion energy
- Zone transitions
Bin & assemble
Day × time-bin matrix
- 1, 5, or 10-minute bins
- Light/dark annotation
- Days stacked into rows
Analyze & plot
Metrics + actogram
- Double-plotted actogram
- Periodogram & cosinor fit
- τ, amplitude, phase, onset
Actograms and periodograms, computed automatically
Binned activity becomes a double-plotted actogram; spectral analysis extracts the dominant period and its power. Together they answer the five questions of circadian phenotyping: is the rhythm present, is the period normal, is activity correctly timed, can the animal entrain, and how stable is the rhythm.
Each row spans 48 hours; the diagonal drift of activity onset reads off the free-running period directly.
Read the actogram methodA dominant peak at ~24 h marks the circadian component; its height is the rhythm’s spectral power. A flattened peak signals a disrupted clock.
Read the periodogram methodLighting conditions
| Condition | Schedule | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Light–Dark (LD) | 12 h light : 12 h dark | Normal entrained rhythm; phase relative to lights-off |
| Constant Darkness (DD) | No light cues | Endogenous free-running period (τ) and rhythm robustness |
| Constant Light (LL) | No dark cues | Circadian challenge — rhythm weakening and activity fragmentation |
Circadian-metabolic phenotyping
Activity alone can look normal while the metabolic clock is already disrupted. Paired with indirect calorimetry, ConductPhenotype profiles when and how energy is used across the 24-hour day — alongside the behavioral clock from video.
Independent indirect-calorimetry instrumentation. Used in obesity, type-2 diabetes, shift-work, jet-lag, and aging models.
- Energy expenditure
- Day/night EE and heat production by indirect calorimetry
- VO₂ / VCO₂
- Oxygen consumption and CO₂ production rhythms
- RER
- VCO₂ / VO₂ — fat (~0.7) vs carbohydrate (~1.0) fuel shifts
- Metabolic phase
- Timing and amplitude of metabolic peaks across ZT
Where circadian phenotyping matters
Neurodegeneration & aging
Rhythm fragmentation and reduced amplitude are early read-outs in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and aging models.
Behavioral applicationsSleep & rest-activity
Pair circadian timing with sleep-bout analysis for a complete rest-activity picture.
Sleep analysisWheel-running comparison
Validate video-derived rhythms against the classic running-wheel assay.
Activity wheelMetabolic disease
Obesity, diabetes, and shift-work models where metabolic rhythms flatten before behavior does.
Metabolic phenotypingCross-species circadian
The same analysis extends to Drosophila and zebrafish circadian activity.
Drosophila circadianThe ConductVision platform
See the full computer-vision tracking engine that powers ConductPhenotype.
Explore ConductVisionFrequently asked
Add circadian phenotyping to your ConductVision setup
Turn continuous home-cage video into actograms, free-running period, and rhythm amplitude — without wheels or implants.
