This application requests continuing support for the Tufts Center for Neuroscience Research (CNR), a NINDS-funded center that provides research core services for the Tufts neuroscience community. Our community consists of 40 neuroscience research laboratories in 14 Departments of Tufts University and its affiliated hospitals. Interests among these faculty span a wide range of medically-relevant neuroscience research areas, including synapse biology, ion channel function, sensory &behavioral neurobiology, neural signaling, neural plasticity, and neurological disease. Presently, there are 9 NINDS-funded projects among Tufts neuroscientists and a total of 44 NIH grants (>$9.5 Million in direct costs this year). The majority of these neuroscience projects depend heavily on core services that are provided by the NINDS-funded CNR. The CNR Cores have had significant impact on neuroscience research at Tufts. More than half of the Tufts neuroscience research labs use CNR core facilities, and research conducted in the cores during the last 3.5 years has resulted in at least 90 publications, many of them describing collaborative studies by Tufts investigators. The following four CNR cores are now wholly or partially supported by NINDS funds: (1) Imaging &Cell Analysis (fluorescence microscopy, confocal &2-photon microscopy, laser capture microdissection, electron microscopy), (2) Computational Genomics (gene microarrays, Q-PCR, bioinformatics and computational biology services), (3) Animal Behavior (rodent behavior testing services), and (4) Electrophysiology &Biophysics (single cell recording, tissue-slice field recording and tissue-slice single-cell recording). The primary continuing goal of our cores is to provide essential research services to NINDS investigators, other neuroscientists and other investigators of the Tufts community. Secondarily, the CNR continues to try to foster collaborative research enterprises among Tufts neuroscientists and to provide training and educational experiences that benefit the entire Tufts neuroscience community. Neuroscience is a major component of the recently completed Tufts Medical School strategic plan and thus we are poised to recruit new neuroscientists in the near future. During the coming expansion of neuroscience at the University, we believe that the affordable research services provided by CNR cores will greatly augment the start-up packages provided to newly-hired Tufts neuroscientists and speed their integration into the local neuroscience community. In recognition of the essential role that the CNR plays in the neuroscience research programs at Tufts, the University has provided significant institutional support to help establish the Core Facilities over this initial period- amounting to nearly $1,000,000 in funds and renovated space Importantly, such support will continue during the next grant cycle (see Section B3) and greatly facilitate the effort to provide core research services to Tufts neuroscientists.
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