EXCEED THE SPACEPROVIDED.This proposal is for continuation of our Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on NEURALMECHANISMS OF ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR at the University of South Dakota. Both human and animalsubjects are able to modify their behavior in response to environmental situations. Behavioral modificationsin response to the environment are an external manifestation of adaptive mechanisms that take place inneuronal circuits in the brain. Such adaptations also occur in response to internal cues such as stress andanxiety and maladaptive behavioral responses may be generated as may occur in mental illness. A majorresearch goal of our COBRE is to understand how functional and structural reorganization of neuronalpathways results in adaptive, or in some cases maladaptive, behavioral responses to external or perceivedexperiences. Moreover, a primary objective of our COBRE in the proposed funding period is to significantlydevelop clinical neuroscience research at our institution through the research strengths of our basicscientists. To achieve this aim, the five new research projects proposed by our COBRE will examine cellularchanges that occur during learning and brain disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety and addiction, andwill provide a bridge toward establishing a base for collaborative patient-oriented research among basicscientists and clinicians. The Neuroscience Group at the University of South Dakota (USD) and University ofSouth Dakota School of Medicine (USDSM) has undergone significant expansion in the basic sciences in thelast several years due largely by the funding of our COBRE. With continued funding, we propose to expandneuroscience basic and clinical research in a region, the northern midwest, that is traditionally highlyunderserved in terms of mental health care and underfunded for both basic and clinical research directed atenhancing treatments related to improving brain dysfunctionfollowing trauma or in disease states.
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