This Phase III (P-III) COBRE project will extend the cores that have been successfully leveraged in our Phase I (P-I) and Phase II (P-II) COBRE projects and sustain these unique resources in New Mexico through the im- plementation of a business plan. Over the past eight years we have built up infrastructure and created a cutting edge brain imaging center, our P-II project is just over half-way through and is even more successful than our P- I was at this point in time. The Mind Research Network (MRN) houses an Elekta Neuromag 306-channel MEG System, a high density EEG lab, a 3T Siemens Trio MRI scanner, and a mobile 1.5T Siemens Avanto MRI scanner. Additional resources include a centralized neuroinformatics system, a strong IT management plan, and state-of-the-art image analysis expertise and tools. This P-III COBRE center will continue our momentum and move the cores we have developed into a position of long term sustainability. We will continue with the technical cores established during the P-II project including multimodal data acquisition (MDA), algorithm and data analy- sis (ADA), and biostatistics and neuro-informatics (BNI). These cores have begun to serve MRN and the greater community, as well as other institutions including extensive collaborations with IDeA funded projects in New Mexico and other states. We believe this P-III COBRE is extremely well-positioned to establish and sustain New Mexico as one of the premier brain imaging sites. We include an extensive pilot project program (PPP) that is built on the successful pilot programs implemented as part of the earlier COBRE phases. This includes an ex- tensive educational, mentoring, and faculty development program to carefully mentor and position faculty who use the cores to maximize their potential to successfully compete for external funding, thus fulfilling the ultimate goals of the COBRE program. 2
This Phase III COBRE project is a natural extension of our Phase I and II COBRE projects which were cen- tered on mentoring individual researchers along with building the necessary infrastructure to support multimodal neuroimaging in mental illness. During this time, cutting-edge cores were developed that facilitated not only our local projects but also research at multiple institutions across New Mexico; the cores served as neuroimaging facilities and training centers for others to utilize. The Phase III project will ensure the sustainability of these cores as they transition to being fully funded by a broad cadre of users with various funding sources. We propose three technical cores including a multimodal data acquisition (MDA) core, an algorithm and data analysis (ADA) core, and a biostatistics and neuro-informatics (BNI) core. These cores have already shown their utility and have begun to be leveraged by users outside the COBRE. In addition, we propose a robust pilot project program (PPP) to continue to seed and enable new users of the cores to ultimately grow and sustain world class brain imaging research within our IDeA state, thus fulfilling the ultimate goals of the COBRE program. 1
