The UNM is requesting funds to construct a new building to house several key neuroimaging modalities magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG), plus a Cellular and Molecular Biology core, so that the investigators can carry out a truly multimodal neuroimaging research on the same animals. This building is planned as the animal component of a comprehensive neuroimaging facility that will also include an expanded facility (whole-head MEG and EEG, high-field MRIs) for human research. The funding in 2001 from the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program [1P20RR15636, Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Yoshio Okada] has generated an enormous level of enthusiasm at the UNM. The IDeA funding has enabled UNM to purchase several key pieces of imaging equipment (4.7T MRI, EPR and 2-photon microscope) that can be combined with the existing set of equipment for MEG, EEG and the supporting Cellular and Molecular core to carry out a multimodal neuroimaging research. These imaging modalities will be all housed in the proposed building. The physical proximity of the core facilities will enable UNM researchers to produce unique results that will provide the edge necessary to be competitive at the national level for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. This will be crucial for building a long-term research program that will be competitive for many years to come, beyond the five-year funding period (2/2001-1/2006) of the UNM COBRE. The UNM is providing $1,065,373 to support this application.
