The Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center (RMTSC), funded by a P30 Core Center grant from NIDCD, provides services to twelve principal investigators including scientists with a substantial record of accomplishment in the field of chemical senses as well as investigators with expertise in other areas of neurobiology. The overall goal of the RMTSC is to facilitate research in the chemical senses by providing communal resources and by bringing together productive investigators into a supportive, interactive environment. The RMTSC provides support services through three cores: 1) Administrative Core; 2) Core A: Transgenic/Gene-targeted Mouse Core; and 3) Core B: Cellular Visualization and Analysis Core. In this supplemental application we seek support for Core A of the RMTSC, which was not funded in our competitive renewal. Within the last decade, active genetic manipulation of mice has fundamentally increased our ability to study development and function. Although interpretation of experiments involving genetic manipulation of mouse embryos must be performed with care, the ability to monitor changes in an entire organism upon modification of a single gene makes this technique an indispensable tool for modern inquiry in neurobiology. The overall goal of Core A is to facilitate use of genetically altered mice. In order to attain this goal, three specific aims are delineated: 1) to maintain genetically altered mice; 2) to genotype offspring of genetically altered mice; and 3) to advise investigators in designing constructs for generation of genetically altered mice. Consolidation of these services in a Core facility enables individual investigators to focus efforts more efficiently on research questions and is more cost effective than duplication of facilities in individual laboratories. Because the production and maintenance of transgenic/gene-targeted mice is expensive, the services provided by the Core are particularly important for junior investigators. The Core will also be a resource for the scientific community at large because genetically altered mice will be made available following publication ? ? ?
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