Wim Crusio
Encyclopedia
Wim E. Crusio is a Dutch
behavioral
neurogeneticist
and a directeur de recherche (research director) with the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Talence
, France.
and then a Ph.D.
from the Radboud University Nijmegen
in 1979 and 1984, respectively. For his master's degree, he performed research in behavior genetics
, plant taxonomy
, and vegetation science
. His Anubias
revision continues to generate interest. His work in plant taxonomy continued for several more years, with publications on the genus
Samolus and the description of a new species of the Aroid
genus Lagenandra
, L.dewitii
; in 1986. For his PhD thesis, Crusio studied the inheritance of the effects of anosmia
on exploratory behavior
of mice, and more in general the genetic architecture
of exploratory behavior, using quantitative-genetic
methods such as the diallel cross. From 1984 to 1987, Crusio worked as a postdoc at the University of Heidelberg, supported by a NATO Science Fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship
. During 1988, Crusio spent a year in Paris
, France
, supported by a fellowship from the Fyssen Foundation
. He then returned to Heidelberg as a senior research scientist before being recruited as chargé de recherche by the CNRS, initially working in an institute of the Université René Descartes (Paris V) and later moving to the CNRS campus
in Orléans
, having been promoted to directeur de recherche. In 2000 he became full professor
of psychiatry
at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
in Worcester, Massachusetts
, returning to the CNRS in 2005 as a group leader in the Centre de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cognitives
in Talence
, a suburb of Bordeaux
.
animal species will often engage in exploratory behavior. Together with his mentor Hans van Abeelen, Crusio hypothesized
that, on the one hand, this would be advantageous (as it would enable animals to find resources, such as water, food, etc.), but on the other hand disadvantageous (because moving around in unfamiliar territory will render an animal vulnerable to predation). Such stabilizing selection
would be expected to lead to a genetic architecture characterized by ambidirectional dominance
. This was indeed found both for mice and for Paradise fish
.
variations in the mouse hippocampus
, showing that about 50% of the variation found between different inbred mouse strains
in the sizes of their intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber
(IIPMF) projections could be attributed to heredity
. It had previous been shown by Herbert Schwegler and Hans-Peter Lipp that these variations are correlated
with the capacity of mice to master a two-way active avoidance task, animals with smaller projections learning much faster than animals with larger IIPMF. Together with Schwegler and Lipp, Crusio showed that an inverse correlation, that is, animals with larger IIPMF learning better, could be found for spatial learning in a radial arm maze
task. This correlation was amenable to experimental manipulation by inducing early postnatal hyperthyroidy
by injecting pups with thyroxine
, which results in an enlargement of the IIPMF projection. As expected, when mice from a strain with scant IIPMF projections were rendered hyperthyroid, they showed enlarged IIPMF and improved learning ability on the radial maze. Taken together, Crusio and collaborators think that it is highly likely that this correlation is causal
, although this is not universally accepted.
mild stress
(UCMS), they start exhibiting symptoms reminiscent of major depressive disorder in humans. As it had been suggested that deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis
might underlie depression, Crusio and collaborators undertook a series of experiments investigating changes in behavior and neurogenesis in mice that had undergone UCMS. They showed dramatic changes in levels of aggression
, anxiety
, depressive-like behaviors, and learning, with a concomitant drop in neurogenesis. However, the results were strain- and sex-specific and there did not appear to be a clear-cut correlation between the different changes, so that they finally concluded that although their data do not disprove the idea that deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis solely underlie the behavioral impairments observed in human psychiatric disorders such as depression, they do not provide support for this hypothesis either.
knockout mice
might perhaps be used as a model
for autism
. This idea is based on the fact that patients suffering from the Fragile X syndrome
, caused by a deficiency of the FMR1 gene often show autistic symptom
s. A good mouse model for the Fragile X syndrome is available in the form of mice in which the Fmr1 gene (the mouse homologue
of the human FMR1 gene) has been invalidated. A review of the findings obtained with these mice in many different laboratories did indeed indicate that these animals display autistic-like symptoms, especially changes in social behavior
, a key symptom of autism.
of Genes, Brain and Behavior
, which started in 2002 and currently has an impact factor
of 3.795, ranking it 66th out of 230 listed journals in the Neuroscience
s category and 10th out of 49 listed journals in the Behavioral Sciences
category. The standards for the publication of mouse mutant studies that he and his co-editors developed for this journal are gradually being accepted in the field. He is an academic editor of PLoS ONE
, associate editor of The ScientificWorldJournal
, and served as associate editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences
(1991–2008). Crusio serves or has served on the editorial boards of Behavioral and Brain Functions
, Behavior Genetics
(1991–1995), Behavioural Brain Research
(1997–2007), BMC Neuroscience, BMC Research Notes, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Journal of Visualized Experiments
, Neurogenetics
(1998–2006), Open Behavioral Science Journal, Open Neuroscience Journal, and Physiology and Behavior
. He edited special issues for the journals Behavior Genetics, Behavioural Brain Research, Physiology and Behavior (with Robert Gerlai
), Hippocampus
(with Aryeh Routtenberg), and Brain Research Bulletin
(with Catherine Belzung and Robert Gerlai). Together with Robert Gerlai he also edited a handbook on molecular genetic
techniques for behavioral neuroscience
.
, for which he served as member-at-large of the executive committee, treasurer
, and president
(1998–2001). In 2011 he received from this society the "Distinguished Service Award", which is given for exceptional contributions to the field of behavioral neurogenetics. Crusio also served on the executive committees of the Behavior Genetics Association
(from which he resigned in protest to Glayde Whitney's 1995 presidential address), the European Brain and Behaviour Society
, and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
(IBNS), and has been a President of the Dutch Behavior Genetics Contact Group. He has been a member of several program committees for scientific meetings, most notably the 8th and 10th World Congresses of Psychiatric Genetics
and the 2008, 2009 (co-chair), 2010 (chair), and 2011 (chair) Annual Meetings of the IBNS.
, Crusio's works have been cited over 2900 times and he has an h-index
of 30. Some significant papers are: Original publication:
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
behavioral
Behavioural genetics
Quantitative human behavioural genetics is a specialisation in the biological field of behaviour genetics that studies the role of genetics in human behaviour employing quantitative-genetic methods. The field is an overlap of quantitative genetics and psychology...
neurogeneticist
Neurogenetics
Neurogenetics studies the role of genetics in the development and function of the nervous system. It considers neural characteristics as phenotypes , and is mainly based on the observation that the nervous systems of individuals, even of those belonging to the same species, may not be identical...
and a directeur de recherche (research director) with the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Talence
Talence
Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side...
, France.
Education and career
Crusio obtained a master's degreeMaster of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
and then a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University Nijmegen is a public university with a strong focus on research in Nijmegen, the Netherlands...
in 1979 and 1984, respectively. For his master's degree, he performed research in behavior genetics
Behavioural genetics
Quantitative human behavioural genetics is a specialisation in the biological field of behaviour genetics that studies the role of genetics in human behaviour employing quantitative-genetic methods. The field is an overlap of quantitative genetics and psychology...
, plant taxonomy
Plant taxonomy
Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, describes, classifies, identifies, and names plants. It thus is one of the main branches of taxonomy.Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two...
, and vegetation science
Phytosociology
Phytosociology is the branch of science which deals with plant communities, their composition and development, and the relationships between the species within them. A phytosociological system is a system for classifying these communities...
. His Anubias
Anubias
Anubias is a genus of aquatic and semi-aquatic flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical central and western Africa. They primarily grow in rivers and streams, but can also be found in marshes. They are characterized by broad, thick, dark leaves that come in many different forms....
revision continues to generate interest. His work in plant taxonomy continued for several more years, with publications on the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Samolus and the description of a new species of the Aroid
Araceae
Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe or leaf-like bract. Also known as the Arum family, members are often colloquially...
genus Lagenandra
Lagenandra
Lagenandra is a genus of flowering plants in the Araceae family. It consists of 16 species of plants that are endemic to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India. The genus is similar to Cryptocoryne, but can be distinguished from it by its involute vernation...
, L.dewitii
Lagenandra dewitii
Lagenandra dewitii is a plant species belonging to the Aroid genus Lagenandra. It was first described in 1986 from living plants and dried herbarium material and named in honour of the Dutch botanist Hendrik de Wit....
; in 1986. For his PhD thesis, Crusio studied the inheritance of the effects of anosmia
Anosmia
Anosmia is a lack of functioning olfaction, or in other words, an inability to perceive odors. Anosmia may be either temporary or permanent. A related term, hyposmia, refers to a decreased ability to smell, while hyperosmia refers to an increased ability to smell. Some people may be anosmic for one...
on exploratory behavior
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
of mice, and more in general the genetic architecture
Genetic architecture
Genetic architecture refers to the underlying genetic basis of a phenotypic trait. A synonymous term is the 'genotype-phenotype map', the way that genotypes map to the phenotypes....
of exploratory behavior, using quantitative-genetic
Quantitative genetics
Quantitative genetics is the study of continuous traits and their underlying mechanisms. It is effectively an extension of simple Mendelian inheritance in that the combined effects of one or more genes and the environments in which they are expressed give rise to continuous distributions of...
methods such as the diallel cross. From 1984 to 1987, Crusio worked as a postdoc at the University of Heidelberg, supported by a NATO Science Fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is a foundation set-up by the government of the Federal Republic and funded by the German Foreign Office, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and others for the promotion of international co-operation...
. During 1988, Crusio spent a year in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, supported by a fellowship from the Fyssen Foundation
Fyssen Foundation
The Fyssen Foundation is a French charitable organization that was established and endowed in 1979 by H. Fyssen. The aim of the foundation is to stimulate research into the processes underlying and leading to cognition, including work in such disciplines as ethology, paleontology, archaeology,...
. He then returned to Heidelberg as a senior research scientist before being recruited as chargé de recherche by the CNRS, initially working in an institute of the Université René Descartes (Paris V) and later moving to the CNRS campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
in Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
, having been promoted to directeur de recherche. In 2000 he became full professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
University of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School is one of five campuses of the University of Massachusetts system and is home to three schools: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Nursing; a biomedical research enterprise; and a range of...
in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, returning to the CNRS in 2005 as a group leader in the Centre de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cognitives
University of Bordeaux
University of Bordeaux is an association of higher education institutions in and around Bordeaux, France. Its current incarnation was established 21 March 2007. The group is the largest system of higher education schools in southwestern France. It is part of the Academy of Bordeaux.There are seven...
in Talence
Talence
Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side...
, a suburb of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
Exploratory behavior
When confronted with a novel environment, animals from non-sessile non-predatoryPredation
In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...
animal species will often engage in exploratory behavior. Together with his mentor Hans van Abeelen, Crusio hypothesized
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that, on the one hand, this would be advantageous (as it would enable animals to find resources, such as water, food, etc.), but on the other hand disadvantageous (because moving around in unfamiliar territory will render an animal vulnerable to predation). Such stabilizing selection
Stabilizing selection
-Description:Stabilizing or ambidirectional selection, , is a type of natural selection in which genetic diversity decreases as the population stabilizes on a particular trait value. This is probably the most common mechanism of action for natural selection...
would be expected to lead to a genetic architecture characterized by ambidirectional dominance
Ambidirectional dominance
Ambidirectional dominance occurs in a situation where multiple genes influence a phenotype and dominance is in different directions depending on the gene. The opposite situation, where all genes show dominance in the same direction, is called directional dominance. According to Broadhurst,...
. This was indeed found both for mice and for Paradise fish
Paradise fish
Paradise fish or paradise gouramis are small freshwater labyrinth fish found in ditches and paddy fields in East Asia, ranging from the Korean Peninsula to Northern Vietnam....
.
Hippocampal mossy fibers
During his postdoc, Crusio became interested in the inheritance of neuroanatomicalNeuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is the study of the anatomy and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defined nervous systems, and thus we can begin to speak of...
variations in the mouse hippocampus
Hippocampus
The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in...
, showing that about 50% of the variation found between different inbred mouse strains
Inbred strain
Inbred strains are individuals of a particular species which are nearly identical to each other in genotype due to long inbreeding. Inbred strains of animals are frequently used in laboratories for experiments where for reproducibility of conclusions all the test animals should be as similar as...
in the sizes of their intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber
Mossy fiber (hippocampus)
In the hippocampus, granule cells of the dentate gyrus form distinctive unmyelinated axons that project along the mossy fiber pathway to the CA3 region. The axons emerge from the basal portions of the granule cells and pass through the hilus of the dentate gyrus before entering the stratum...
(IIPMF) projections could be attributed to heredity
Heritability
The Heritability of a population is the proportion of observable differences between individuals that is due to genetic differences. Factors including genetics, environment and random chance can all contribute to the variation between individuals in their observable characteristics...
. It had previous been shown by Herbert Schwegler and Hans-Peter Lipp that these variations are correlated
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
with the capacity of mice to master a two-way active avoidance task, animals with smaller projections learning much faster than animals with larger IIPMF. Together with Schwegler and Lipp, Crusio showed that an inverse correlation, that is, animals with larger IIPMF learning better, could be found for spatial learning in a radial arm maze
Radial arm maze
The radial arm maze was designed by Olton and Samuelson in 1976 to measure spatial learning and memory in rats. The original apparatus consists of eight equidistantly spaced arms, each about 4 feet long, and all radiating from a small circular central platform...
task. This correlation was amenable to experimental manipulation by inducing early postnatal hyperthyroidy
Hyperthyroidism
Hyperthyroidism is the term for overactive tissue within the thyroid gland causing an overproduction of thyroid hormones . Hyperthyroidism is thus a cause of thyrotoxicosis, the clinical condition of increased thyroid hormones in the blood. Hyperthyroidism and thyrotoxicosis are not synonymous...
by injecting pups with thyroxine
Thyroxine
Thyroxine, or 3,5,3',5'-tetraiodothyronine , a form of thyroid hormones, is the major hormone secreted by the follicular cells of the thyroid gland.-Synthesis and regulation:...
, which results in an enlargement of the IIPMF projection. As expected, when mice from a strain with scant IIPMF projections were rendered hyperthyroid, they showed enlarged IIPMF and improved learning ability on the radial maze. Taken together, Crusio and collaborators think that it is highly likely that this correlation is causal
Causality
Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....
, although this is not universally accepted.
Mouse model of depression
When mice are exposed to unpredictable chronicChronic (medicine)
A chronic disease is a disease or other human health condition that is persistent or long-lasting in nature. The term chronic is usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months. Common chronic diseases include asthma, cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.In medicine, the...
mild stress
Chronic stress
Chronic stress is the response to emotional pressure suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual perceives he or she has no control. It involves an endocrine system response in which occurs a release of corticosteroids...
(UCMS), they start exhibiting symptoms reminiscent of major depressive disorder in humans. As it had been suggested that deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis
Neurogenesis
Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...
might underlie depression, Crusio and collaborators undertook a series of experiments investigating changes in behavior and neurogenesis in mice that had undergone UCMS. They showed dramatic changes in levels of aggression
Aggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
, anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
, depressive-like behaviors, and learning, with a concomitant drop in neurogenesis. However, the results were strain- and sex-specific and there did not appear to be a clear-cut correlation between the different changes, so that they finally concluded that although their data do not disprove the idea that deficits in hippocampal neurogenesis solely underlie the behavioral impairments observed in human psychiatric disorders such as depression, they do not provide support for this hypothesis either.
Mouse model of autism
More recently, Crusio investigates the possibility that Fmr1FMR1
FMR1 is a human gene that codes for a protein called fragile X mental retardation protein, or FMRP. This protein, most commonly found in the brain, is essential for normal cognitive development and female reproductive function...
knockout mice
Knockout mouse
A knockout mouse is a genetically engineered mouse in which researchers have inactivated, or "knocked out," an existing gene by replacing it or disrupting it with an artificial piece of DNA...
might perhaps be used as a model
Animal model
An animal model is a living, non-human animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease without the added risk of causing harm to an actual human being during the process...
for autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
. This idea is based on the fact that patients suffering from the Fragile X syndrome
Fragile X syndrome
Fragile X syndrome , Martin–Bell syndrome, or Escalante's syndrome , is a genetic syndrome that is the most commonly known single-gene cause of autism and the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability...
, caused by a deficiency of the FMR1 gene often show autistic symptom
Symptom
A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality...
s. A good mouse model for the Fragile X syndrome is available in the form of mice in which the Fmr1 gene (the mouse homologue
Homology (biology)
Homology forms the basis of organization for comparative biology. In 1843, Richard Owen defined homology as "the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function". Organs as different as a bat's wing, a seal's flipper, a cat's paw and a human hand have a common underlying...
of the human FMR1 gene) has been invalidated. A review of the findings obtained with these mice in many different laboratories did indeed indicate that these animals display autistic-like symptoms, especially changes in social behavior
Social behavior
In physics, physiology and sociology, social behavior is behavior directed towards society, or taking place between, members of the same species. Behavior such as predation which involves members of different species is not social...
, a key symptom of autism.
Editorial activities
Crusio is the founding editor in chiefEditor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
of Genes, Brain and Behavior
Genes, Brain and Behavior
According to the Journal Citation Reports, its 2009 impact factor is 4.061, ranking Genes, Brain and Behavior 63rd out of 237 listed journals in the category "Neurosciences" and 6th out of 48 listed journals in the category "Behavioral Sciences"....
, which started in 2002 and currently has an impact factor
Impact factor
The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...
of 3.795, ranking it 66th out of 230 listed journals in the Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
s category and 10th out of 49 listed journals in the Behavioral Sciences
Behavioural sciences
The term behavioural sciences encompasses all the disciplines that explore the activities of and interactions among organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behaviour through controlled and naturalistic observation, and disciplined...
category. The standards for the publication of mouse mutant studies that he and his co-editors developed for this journal are gradually being accepted in the field. He is an academic editor of PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE is an open access peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science since 2006. It covers primary research from any discipline within science and medicine. All submissions go through an internal and external pre-publication peer review but are not excluded on the...
, associate editor of The ScientificWorldJournal
The ScientificWorldJournal
The ScientificWorldJournal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering fields in the life sciences ranging from biomedicine to environmental sciences and its primary audience are researchers working in these fields.- Publication history :...
, and served as associate editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Behavioral and Brain Sciences is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of Open Peer Commentary founded in 1978 by Stevan Harnad and published by Cambridge University Press...
(1991–2008). Crusio serves or has served on the editorial boards of Behavioral and Brain Functions
Behavioral and Brain Functions
Behavioral and Brain Functions is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by BioMed Central with Open Access to all content. The journal publishes articles on "all aspects of neurobiology where the unifying theme is behavior or behavioral dysfunction"...
, Behavior Genetics
Behavior Genetics Association
The Behavior Genetics Association is a learned society that was established in 1970 and promotes research into the connection between heredity and behavior.- Aims :...
(1991–1995), Behavioural Brain Research
Behavioural Brain Research
Behavioural Brain Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes articles in the field of behavioural neuroscience...
(1997–2007), BMC Neuroscience, BMC Research Notes, Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Journal of Visualized Experiments
Journal of Visualized Experiments
The Journal of Visualized Experiments is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in December 2006. The editor-in-chief is Moshe Pritsker, who is also the CEO and co-founder. The focus of the journal is publishing biological research in video format...
, Neurogenetics
Neurogenetics (journal)
Neurogenetics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of neurogenetics. It was established in 1997 and is published quarterly by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes review articles, original articles, short communications, and letters to the editors. The...
(1998–2006), Open Behavioral Science Journal, Open Neuroscience Journal, and Physiology and Behavior
Physiology and Behavior
Physiology & Behavior is a scientific journal published by Elsevier. It is an official journal of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. The journal publishes peer-reviewed articles in the fields of behavioral neuroendocrinology, psychoneuroimmunology, learning and memory, ingestion,...
. He edited special issues for the journals Behavior Genetics, Behavioural Brain Research, Physiology and Behavior (with Robert Gerlai
Robert Gerlai
Robert T. Gerlai is a Hungarian behavior geneticist. He obtained his PhD in 1987 from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He is full professor of psychology and vice chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. The Web of Science lists 96 peer-reviewed publications for...
), Hippocampus
Hippocampus (journal)
Hippocampus is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal founded in 1991. It is published by John Wiley & Sons, and according to its Statement of Aims, "provides a forum for the exchange of current information between investigators interested in the neurobiology of the hippocampal formation and...
(with Aryeh Routtenberg), and Brain Research Bulletin
Brain Research Bulletin
Brain Research Bulletin is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of neuroscience. It was established in 1976 with Matthew J. Wayner as founding editor in chief. Later it was edited by Stephen Dunnett . He was succeeded in 2010 by Andres Buonanno...
(with Catherine Belzung and Robert Gerlai). Together with Robert Gerlai he also edited a handbook on molecular genetic
Molecular genetics
Molecular genetics is the field of biology and genetics that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level. The field studies how the genes are transferred from generation to generation. Molecular genetics employs the methods of genetics and molecular biology...
techniques for behavioral neuroscience
Behavioral neuroscience
Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology is the application of the principles of biology , to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in human and non-human animals...
.
Community service
In 1996, Crusio was one of two co-founders of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics SocietyInternational Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society
The International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society was founded in 1996. The goal of IBANGS is "to promote the field of neurobehavioural genetics".- Mission :...
, for which he served as member-at-large of the executive committee, treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
, and president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
(1998–2001). In 2011 he received from this society the "Distinguished Service Award", which is given for exceptional contributions to the field of behavioral neurogenetics. Crusio also served on the executive committees of the Behavior Genetics Association
Behavior Genetics Association
The Behavior Genetics Association is a learned society that was established in 1970 and promotes research into the connection between heredity and behavior.- Aims :...
(from which he resigned in protest to Glayde Whitney's 1995 presidential address), the European Brain and Behaviour Society
European Brain and Behaviour Society
The European Brain and Behaviour Society is a scientific society founded in 1968 whose stated purpose is the exchange of information between European scientists interested in the relationships between brain mechanisms and behaviour. It is the oldest neuroscience society in the world...
, and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society , was founded in 1992. The goal of the IBNS is to "encourage research and education in the field of behavioral neuroscience". Its current president is D. Caroline Blanchard...
(IBNS), and has been a President of the Dutch Behavior Genetics Contact Group. He has been a member of several program committees for scientific meetings, most notably the 8th and 10th World Congresses of Psychiatric Genetics
International Society for Psychiatric Genetics
The International Society of Psychiatric Genetics is a learned society that aims to "promote and facilitate research in the genetics of psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders and allied traits". To this end, among other things, it organizes an annual "World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics"...
and the 2008, 2009 (co-chair), 2010 (chair), and 2011 (chair) Annual Meetings of the IBNS.
Significant papers
According to the Web of ScienceWeb of Science
ISI Web of Knowledge is an academic citation indexing and search service, which is combined with web linking and provided by Thomson Reuters. Web of Knowledge coverage encompasses the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It provides bibliographic content and the tools to access, analyze,...
, Crusio's works have been cited over 2900 times and he has an h-index
H-index
The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications...
of 30. Some significant papers are: Original publication: