Among the most compelling features of daily life include the ability to navigate through the environment and to communicate with each other. These functions are fundamental to survival, but are also among the first to encounter trouble in the diseased or aging nervous system. The University of Rochester holds a set of NIH- supported research programs dedicated to the sensory, motor, and integrative mechanisms underlying navigation and communication. These provide a compelling framework for a new P-30 Core-Center that matches the mission of the NIDCD. Key ingredients for success for success are in place, including a committed leadership, dedicated faculty, precedents for shared core services, an advisory and quality assurance process, and an infrastructure that is conducive to new collaborations and attractive to new investigators. The Core-Center will allow investigators to efficient share costly, time-consuming, essential but cumbersome, and in many cases innovative research services. Three research cores are planned: 1) a Human Subjects Core will consolidate and coordinate the recruitment, screening, and scheduling of subjects across relevant projects; 2) a Research Services Core will include a Histology & Imaging Unit (tissue preparation, image analysis & reconstruction), and an Electronic/Mechanical Shop (repair and construction of lab components and devices); and 3) a Technology and Computation Core, to include a Lab Technology Unit that will implement automated lab systems for stimulus and behavioral control, data acquisition, and data analysis, while a complementary Computation Unit will support PC and network operations, maintenance & upgrades of common software tools, and staff training. Some research service units exist now, shared between the Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy and the Center for Visual Science (an NEI-P3O). The new Core-Center will exploit our inherently cooperative environment and augment these facilities while adding needed capacity in newly committed space. The result will enhance the quality, efficiency, and diversity of services to all. The Core-Center will generate a robust infrastructure that will enrich the productivity of ongoing and future research, promote collaborations among investigators, attract new faculty and students to the area, facilitate further institutional support, and ultimately contribute to the health of the community and the nation.
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