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.The primary goal of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Neuroscience (Neuroscience COBRE) has been to enhance the infrastructure of neuroscience research and graduate training across the University of Vermont (UVM) campus. During the past year, which represents the seventh year of funding, the Neuroscience COBRE continued to have two main aims: (1) to support the research and intellectual infrastructure of a University-wide Center for Neuroscience Excellence at UVM, and (2) to promote the research development of neuroscience faculty who will be the future leaders in the UVM Center for Neuroscience Excellence. Significant progress continues to be made in meeting these goals. The role of the Administrative Core is to provide both intellectual and administrative support for the Neuroscience COBRE. The Administrative Core oversees the mentoring program which provides critical guidance for our four COBRE-supported investigators: Drs. Miguel Martin-Caraballo from the Department of Biology, Alan Howe from the Department of Pharmacology, Jeffrey Spees from the Department of Medicine and Uma Wesley from the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. Faculty mentoring is a major emphasis of this program, and senior faculty guide the research activities of each of these four COBRE-supported neuroscience investigators. The staff within the Administrative Core process purchase orders and salary distributions and provide ongoing financial analysis for each Project Director and the Core Directors. The Administrative Core also supports new Neuroscience faculty hires. During this past year, Neuroscience COBRE funds also were used to help a new faculty recruit, Dr. Donna Toufexis in the Department of Psychology, develop her laboratory. The Neuroscience COBRE grant continues to support two multi-user research core facilities: the Cellular/Molecular Biology Core and Imaging/Physiology Core. These cores were established by the initial COBRE award to provide access to research tools critical to the work proposed in the four neuroscience faculty projects, as well as to support research programs by many other UVM neuroscientists. Both Cores have continued to be very successful, as measured by the increasing number of users and by acquisition of additional equipment to meet the needs of the user group. The Translational Core, a third core developed in year 2 of the initial funding period, facilitates the interaction between basic and clinical neuroscientists. The Translational Core supports a didactic course, entitled the Biological Basis of Neurological Disease, which is presented to graduate students, residents, and faculty. The Translational Core also provided the stipend for two MD/PhD students, Joseph Chung and Julia Cambron Joseph Cheung, whose research is being conducted in a neuroscience faculty laboratory. The Core provides stipends for undergraduate students who participate in our Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Neuroscience. Last year, the Administrative Core supported a plenary Neuroscience lecture which was presented by Dr. Edward A. Kravitz from the department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. This presentation was part of the annual neuroscience retreat held November 30-December 1 and sponsored jointly by the Neuroscience COBRE and the local Vermont Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. This retreat was organized to highlight neuroscience research accomplishments at UVM and consisted of oral and poster presentations by neuroscientists from departments across the UVM campus. On October 15-16, The Administrative Core organized the Annual COBRE Review. All members of the External Advisory Committee (Drs. John Bixby, University of Miami Medical School; Steven Heinemann, Salk Institute; William Mobley, Stanford University Medical School and Mahendra Rao, Vice President for Research, Invitrogen Corp.) visited UVM and critiqued the specific aims and progress of the programs of the four COBRE-supported investigators. Additionally, the Internal Advisory Board of the Neuroscience COBRE, along with all mentors and participating faculty also participated in the review. Each investigators gave an overview of their progress to date as well as the proposed Specific Aims for their R01 grant applications. The review session was very successful in providing important insight and guidance to these investigators, all of whom submitted R01 grant applications by the March cycle. One of the objectives of the Neuroscience COBRE is to facilitate interactions between basic and clinical scientists around a common area of research/clinical interest. Last September, the Administrative core of the Neuroscience COBRE, in conjunction with the Department of Neurology and Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, sponsored a translational neuroscience symposium entitled 'Neural Stem Cells and Brain Repair: Roles in Learning, Memory and Functional Recovery.' The speakers included Dr. Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom (Professor, Department of Neuroscience, UMDNJ), Dr. Jack Kessler (Chair, Department of Neurology, and Director of the Feinberg Neuroscience Institute, Northwestern University School of Medicine), Dr. Jeffrey Macklis (Professor, Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Harvard Medical School and Director, Center for Nervous System Repair, Massachusetts General Hospital) and Dr. Lee Rubin (Director of translational Research and Harvard University Stem Cell Institute). The symposium was well attended by faculty, students and staff. It was widely advertised and open to the public. An informal reception followed the presentations, providing an opportunity for the attendees to interact directly with the speakers. A major accomplishment made during the first COBRE funding period was the development of a university-wide Neuroscience Doctoral Training Program. The current COBRE grant continues to support this multi-disciplinary graduate training program in Neuroscience as many of the participating faculty are involved with the Neuroscience COBRE. Stipends for graduate students working in the laboratories of the four Project Directors are made available through COBRE funding. The training faculty are derived from multiple departments in many Colleges across the campus, creating a breadth of training opportunities that is truly diverse.We are currently in the second year of this program and both the number and quality student applicants to the program has increased markedly. Dr. Rae Nishi, a COBRE mentor and member of the Internal Advisory Board, is the first Graduate Program Director.
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