This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for 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, has been a very able 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 has been the liaison between SNRC faculty and the lead personnel for the architectural firm, construction contractor and WVU planning personnel during the construction of our new laboratory space. She has relocated out of state, and completed her employment at the end of November, 2008. Her administrative duties are now shared with Stacey Malecky, MBA, who is also the Administrator for the Center for Neuroscience, the umbrella center under which the SNRC is organized. We are in the process of hiring a second person in our office, who will assist Ms. Malecky with administration of both centers. Both Ms. Malecky and her assistant will be supported 50% by the CoBRE grant. During the past year we have been unsuccessful in recruiting a specialist in regeneration or development of sensory systems and have developed a better approach to make this recruitment. We were targeting an established scientist in order to bring additional senior leadership and mentoring skills into our group. In order to address this issue, we have recently received a commitment to increase the value of the startup package we can offer. This startup package will be comprised of both institutional and CoBRE funds. Furthermore, we have received a commitment to recruit a second senior faculty member, also with a competitive startup package. That second startup package will also consist of CoBRE and institutional funds. Essentially we have leveraged the CoBRE startup into a second senior faculty position. We think that recruitment of two positions simultaneously will increase the attractiveness of each position, because we can demonstrate the possibility for immediate opportunities for collaboration with another senior scientist. One of these new faculty will be appointed in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, as originally planned, and the other will be appointed in the Department of Otolaryngology. We anticipate that the opening of our new research building provides additional incentive for recruitment of high quality faculty. It is important to emphasize that our faculty growth has been entirely through filling of tenure-track, state funded positions. We have recruited 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 continued to receive startup support via the COBRE grant. Dr. Ramamurthy has already received R01 funding for his research on retinal degeneration. During the past year, he also became the PI for the grant of Dr. Janet Cyr, a former SNRC member who left the group this year to become a program administrator at the NIH. Dr. Ramamurthy is now developing gene therapy approaches to treat retinal degeneration, which will form the basis for another extramural grant application. Dr. Ramamurthy exclusively uses animal models. The necessary ACUC approvals are included among the submitted documentation. Dr. Zareparsi is proceeding with human subject enrollment in her genetic studies of glaucoma, and submitted applications to two eye research foundations. One application received a competitive score and awaits a funding decision and the other is pending review. 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. Agmon continued to receive support during the past year for a postdoctoral fellow to maintain his competitiveness for an upcoming renewal. Dr. Agmon was a junior investigator who achieved R01 funding. This is the last year of support for Drs. Agmon and Zareparsi. Dr. Ramamurthy will maintain a small budget during the coming year. 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 consistently outside of normal working hours. Our labs increasingly employ in vitro and in vivo imaging techniques, and we see the growing importance of imaging in our work. The collaboration that we instituted nearly two years ago with Feruz Ganikhanov, PhD, a faculty member in the Physics Department, to construct a non-linear optical imaging system is now functional. We have shared in the investment to create this facility, described in greater detail in other sections. This system has immediately provided us with the capability to conduct 2-photon imaging experiments. We have created an imaging resource that is cutting-edge, and available in only a small number of research institutions. We relocated this facility from the physics department to our new research building in December, 2008. It also serves as an important laboratory startup resource for recruitment of new faculty. The CoBRE grant also supports Health Sciences Center core facilities. The Transgenic Rodent Facility is supported via 50% 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 result in expanded staffing of the electron microscopy facility. The electron microscopy suite will be moved across the hall from its current location to make room for expansion of the animal quarters. We are currently designing the new suite, which will house the electron microscope and a darkroom. We anticipate completion of the new suite by April, 2009. The Center for Advanced Imaging has been supported indirectly via the research project on the CoBRE grant held by Dr. Lewis. Our mentoring program remains strong. We will focus upon our grant mentoring committees of 2-3 people during the coming year so that our remaining junior investigators, Drs. Lewis, Sokolov and Zareparsi, can obtain NIH R01 funding. We also will expand the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURI) from 12 to 15 students during the summer, 2009, and request support for 7 of these students from the CoBRE grant. This expansion reflects participation by additional members of the Center for Neuroscience and an increased effort to recruit students to our graduate programs We conducted our most recent on-site meeting for the External Advisory Panel in September, 2008. We were hoping to combine this meeting with a symposium on sensory neuroscience to celebrate the move into our new laboratory space in the new research building. However, our move into the new building was delayed until November, so we are considering new dates during late summer to early fall, 2009, to hold a symposium. We currently have four external advisors and plan to add one member during the coming year. A very noteworthy event from the past year is completion of a new research building that houses the SNRC on its top (fourth) floor. The floor occupies 25,000 gross sq ft and has room for 10 laboratories. Currently 5 SNRC investigators are located in the new building, so the institution has programmed space for us to accomplish our projected expansion. This laboratory space will facilitate recruitment of established, funded investigators to join the SNRC.
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