The Research Services Core provides basic support for all five of the projects and the other two cores in this Program. The Core facilities in the Department of Physiology at MCW evolved from the original Program Project group. As the Department has grown investigators have found these facilities to be increasingly essential to their research. The current core facilities are supported in part by the Department and non-PPG research grants, yet the single largest user and supporter of the Research Services Core remains this program. The continued financial support of these core facilities by the PPG is essential for the work proposed in this Program. Without these cores, the research proposed in this application could not be conducted. The Research Services Core of this program has expanded in both scope and size during the previous grant period with the addition of new activities in Histology, Microscopy, and Image Processing. Eleven individuals currently staff the Research Services Core, each with significant experience in a broad range of activities that support the research infrastructure within the Department of Physiology. This staff is divided among one or more support groups, computer, analytical, animal monitoring, microscopy, machine and electronics, and instrument service. Based on the amount of crossover in the activities of these groups we have now found it more productive to unify their efforts into one core under the supervision of Dr. Andrew S. Greene. Based on these natural divisions, the Research Services Core serves 7 main functions within the program project; computer support, analytical and statistical consultation, chronic animal monitoring, microscopy and image processing, custom machine and electronic fabrication, instrument service, and rat colony maintenance. Each of these functions is served by a fully staffed facility which is available at all times to program investigators. Systems management is a key element in sustaining large and complex research efforts such as those supported by the staff of the Research Services Core. The concept is applied across all areas of the Research Services Core to maximize efficiency and flexibility in design and maintenance of research equipment and facilities used by the principle investigators. The ability to integrate the various component parts of a research protocol into a reproducible and manageable system is a result of combining experienced individuals of complementary skill sets to a given design problem. The objective is to provide a technical infrastructure for the research programs from the laboratory bench to publication. Providing standard data acquisition systems, analysis programs, data management, and publication tools while extending and maintaining these systems to meet the research goals is the primary activity in this core. The Research Services Core continues to provide direct support to the Program Project grant with computer hardware, software and networking as well as access to access to skilled machinists and electronic engineers capable of design and repair of specialized research equipment. The facilities and skills available under one administrative and supervisory unit allow significant cost reductions for maintenance and repair of vital laboratory equipment. The integration of all facets of equipment management speeds repair time by efficient stocking of critical spare parts and effective use of outside specialized maintenance services and contracts. Providing a single point of contact for equipment acquisition and service allows Program Project investigators to benefit from purchase consolidation while enhancing vendor communication and evaluation. This also provides a managed repository for service manuals and user documentation for shared equipment. Service histories and maintenance records provide cost benefit input for equipment life cycle management decisions. Computer services and analytical components have historically been an essential component of this Program Project and have always provided services to all of the projects and cores. Tremendous growth has occurred since the original grant in which the Computer Core consisted of a single DEC 11/44 mainframe system that was designed for relatively small computer models and to serve the real time data acquisition needs in the Animal Monitoring Facility. The growth of this core is a consequence of its place in the center of the integrative activities of the Program Project, since it is literally the facility that provides the key link between projects, and with its role in chronic monitoring is clearly the most widely and intensively used resource within the Program. In the previous funding period we have exapanded our ability to do theoretical work by developing a close collaboration with the Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering Center at MCW. This relationship, which fostered the mutual needs of both the Center and the Physiology Department, has been extremely successful. Under this model and in close collaboration the Bioinformatics Research Center, PPG investigators are provided with access to large scale, state-of-the-art computing and expertise in sophisticated data analysis and modeling. The machine and electronic core of the PPG has historically provided investigators in the Program Project access to skilled machinists and electronic engineers capable of design and repair of specialized research equipment. In the previous proposal, these activities were incorporated into the Research Services Core in order to provide all of the research support activities of the Program under one administrative and supervisory unit. As seen in the Progress Report section that follows, the machine and electronic shops are heavily utilized by PPG investigators for both design and fabrication as well as repair of vital equipment in their laboratories. Because of the availability of skilled machinists and Engineers within our program we have been able to reduce our dependence on outside service organizations and thus have been able to significantly reduce our costs by dropping nearly all of our costly service contracts.
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