To promote effective transformational collaborative research in state-of-the art laboratory facilities, we propose to build a 37,700 sq ft addition (Neuroscience and Health Annex) to the Cox Science Building on the Coral Gables campus at the University of Miami. The Neuroscience and Health Annex will create an interactive """"""""hub"""""""" for researchers on the interdisciplinary research theme of Brain, Behavior and Health in studies requiring sophisticated image analysis. The planned Neuroscience and Health Annex comprises multiple interlinked foci based on biological imaging and health research. There are senior NIH-funded investigators in each of the research foci (e.g., Chiba/Advanced Molecular Imaging, Schneiderman/Health Psychology/ Behavioral Medicine Research, Sacco and Maudsley/fMRI Brain Imaging). These foci are supported by a system of collaborative research spaces designed to house resources needed for multiple research endeavors. The annex will provide facilities for a fMRI core laboratory, an advanced in situ molecular imaging complex and a vivarium. It will consolidate behavioral researchers and will bring them into close contact with one another and with other neuroscientists in space specifically designed for their research needs. The annex will be designed and built following US Green Building Council sustainable design criteria with the goal of achieving LEED Silver Certification. The University is committed to providing funds to complete the project and to purchase a fMRI magnet. Funding of this project is expected to generate 189 American jobs (174 industrial and 15 academic) and has full support of the university leadership.
(provided by the applicant): The great frontier for neuroscience is to understand how molecular changes in the nervous system relate to behavior and to identify different molecular patterns in the nervous system that can predict successful treatment of neurological diseases and in some cases lead to successful regeneration of damaged spinal cord or brain. The research programs in the Neuroscience and Health Annex will contribute to this effort by studying model systems in animals and correlate human behavior with functional changes in different regions of the brain.
