Improving animal models for nervous system disorders

A workshop on ‘Improving translation of animal models for nervous system disorders' held at the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, in Washington, DC, 28–29 March 2012, was organized to discuss the issues that contribute to the poor translation of results from animal models to human nervous system disorders, to consider strategies to increase the scientific rigor of preclinical testing, to identify methods to maximize bidirectional translation between basic and clinical research, and to determine the next steps for improvement of the development and testing of animal models of nervous system disorders. The proceedings of this workshop will be of great interest to those doing research in genes, brain and behaviour.