The Portland Area Communication Research Core Center will support twelve principal investigators in its Research Base, each of whom has one or more qualifying R01 grants funded by the NIDCD and or another institute. Eight other investigators with similar research interests are also members of the Core Center. The twenty investigators are affiliated with a variety of institutes in the greater Portland area: the Oregon Hearing Research Center (OHRC) at the Oregon Health &Science University (OHSU);the Vollum Institute (OHSU);the Department of Otolaryngology;Head &Neck Surgery (OHSU);the Department of Biomedical Engineering (OHSU);the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR) at the Portland Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center;and the Washington State University (WSU) Vancouver, which is just across the Columbia River from Portland. The group has a strong focus on and a substantial record of accomplishments in the auditory and vestibular sciences, with additional investigators interested in the olfactory system. The goal of the Core Center is to centralize expertise on bioengineering, imaging, and mouse genetics in order to enhance presently funded research projects and to stimulate collaborations among participating investigators. In order to achieve these goals, continued support of three Research Core facilities is proposed. The Bioengineering Core (Alfred Nuttall and Stephen David, Co-Directors) provides computer hardware and software support, support for design and construction of analog and digital circuits, as well as expertise and instrumentation for measurement of hearing acuity in live animals. The Imaging Core (Dennis Trune and Peter Steyger, Co-Directors) centralizes light, confocal, and electron-microscopic imaging through the existing Oregon Hearing Research Center infrastructure. The Mouse Core (Peter Gillespie and John Brigande, Co-Directors) provides expertise on mouse husbandry and genotyping, as well as in utero virus injection and plasmid electroporation to deliver exogenous genes into the inner ear. Support for an Administrative Shell is also requested. Support of the Core Center will facilitate increased efficiency, broader collaborations, and novel approaches in NIDCD-funded research projects.
This P30 Core Center supports twenty investigators who carry out research into the basic sensory, pathologic and disease mechanisms of hearing, balance, and smell. The Core Center enables more efficient research programs, which will lead to better understanding of normal and dysfunctional communication processes. Core B Bioengineering Core Director: Alfred L. Nuttall DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Bioengineering Core will support P30 investigators and collaborating investigators, providing engineering and software expertise needed in the projects of the users, and maintaining the OHRC auditory-brainstem-response (ABR), distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and sound exposure facilities. The P30 Engineer will design and build custom electronic and mechanical devices that solve experimental and data-acquisition problems. The P30 Programmer will write computer software to address the experimental needs of the users. Projects undertaken by the Engineer and Programmer will extend the funded work of the Core users and stimulate collaborative studies among users. The P30 staff will help create common databases that would allow sharing of experimental data among users and enable more secure data backup. Core staff also advise faculty on specification and purchase of computers, instrumentation, and software. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This P30 Core Center supports 20 investigators who carry out research into the basic and disease mechanisms of hearing, balance, and smell. The Bioengineering Core supports a subset of these investigators, facilitating research programs by offering computing and engineering expertise.
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