This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.We structured our grant such that the administrative core supports the administrative office, startup packages for new faculty, phase-out budgets for successful projects, and equipment cores that are administered within the SNRC (biochemistry, histology, molecular biology and tissue culture, imaging) or by the Health Sciences Center (transgenic rodent, center for advanced imaging, electron microscopy), summer undergraduate research fellows and attendance of SNRC members at the annual WVU Center for Neuroscience retreat. As new faculty members join the COBRE, their budgets can be assigned initially as subprojects through this core to provide for immediate purchase of key startup resources for their laboratories. Subsequently, their research proposals are presented to our external advisors for approval and their budgets are assigned as individual tasks in our accounting system. In this section we describe activities in all of the listed areas during the past year. Ms. Angela Harrison, MPA, continues to function expertly as Administrator for the SNRC. Ms. Harrison has proven extremely adept at conducting all of the operations of the SNRC, including accounting for the CoBRE grant, assisting investigators with submission of grant applications to the NIH, and managing SNRC activities such as visits by our external advisors and biweekly works-in-progress meetings. She is also the focal person for the SNRC role in construction of our new laboratory space. Ms. Harrison handles communication between the SNRC director and faculty with WVU planning personnel and the architectural firm and ensures that action items are addressed and solved. During the past year we have been recruiting a specialist in regeneration or development of sensory systems. We are targeting an established scientist in order to bring additional senior leadership and mentoring skills into our group. This individual will be appointed in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and will occupy new laboratory space in the new Biomedical Research Building to be constructed on our medical campus. We were unable to hire a senior investigator during the past year. However, with the new laboratory space scheduled for completion, we think that we will be more competitive to make such a hire in the coming year. It is important to reiterate that our faculty growth has been through filling of tenure-track, state funded positions. We have decided to recruit faculty strictly from outside of the university into these positions. It is strategically important, we think, that a small institution continue to refresh its ideas and approaches to the conduct of scientific investigation. Drs. Visvanathan Ramamurthy and Sepideh Zareparsi continue to receive startup support via the COBRE grant. Their research is progressing at a good pace, with Dr. Ramamurthy already receiving funding for his R01 grant. Dr. Zareparsi is proceeding with human subject enrollment in her genetic studies of glaucoma, and has applications pending at eye research foundations. Please note that Dr. Zareparsi exclusively uses human subjects in her work. The necessary IRB and subject enrollment forms are included among the submitted documentation. Dr. Ramamurthy exclusively uses animal models. The necessary ACUC approvals are included among the submitted documentation. Administrative support for SNRC core facilities remains integral to our ability to conduct modern research. All of our facilities are used heavily. As an example, the confocal microscope is used increasingly each year and, although it is dedicated to SNRC researchers, investigators must plan experiments and reserve time up to one week in advance. The machine is used heavily evenings and is much used on weekends. Our labs increasingly employ in vitro and in vivo imaging techniques, and we see the importance of imaging growing rapidly in our work. The collaboration that we instituted last year with Feruz Ganikhanov, PhD, a faculty member in the Physics Department, is coming to fruition with the nearly-completed assembly of a non-linear optical imaging system. We have shared in the investment to create this facility, described in greater detail in other sections, which will immediately provide us with the capability to conduct 2-photon imaging experiments. We have created an imaging resource that is cutting-age, and available in only a small number of research institutions. The CoBRE grant also supports Health Sciences Center core facilities. The Transgenic Rodent Facility is supported via partial salary coverage for the facility technician. The director of this facility is Dr. Peter Mathers, an SNRC faculty member. The electron microscope service contract is supported by the CoBRE grant. SNRC faculty are the heaviest users of this instrument. Discussions are underway with our Health Sciences Center administration that will hopefully lead to expanded staffing of the electron microscopy facility. The Center for Advanced Imaging has been supported indirectly via research projects on the CoBRE grant held by Drs. Lewis and Mendola. They have purchased head coils for fMRI, and Dr. Mendola purchased a scanner-friendly eye-tracking and visual stimulation system. Although Dr. Mendola left the university this year, these instruments remain in place and are used as shared equipment within the imaging center. We will conduct our next on-site meeting for the External Advisory Panel in the fall, 2008. Our plan at this juncture is to hold this meeting the day before we host a symposium on sensory neuroscience to celebrate the move into our new laboratory space in the new research building. At our most recent meeting we welcomed Dr. Donald Zack, Md, PhD, from the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, as a new member of our external advisory board. We currently have four external advisors and plan to add one member during the coming year.
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