The Neuroscience Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill proposes to establish, house, and staff five Core facilities to support molecular, genetic, and high-resolution imaging approaches for neuroscience research. Four of the proposed Cores will enhance the genetics capabilities of a group of 13 NINDS grantees studying signaling in neural development and neurological disease. They are: Core 1. Expression Profiling and Bioinformatics, Core 2. Expression Localization, Core 3. BAC Engineering Technology, and Core 4. Embryonic Stem Cell Technology. These cores will provide integrated services to support molecular genetic and mutagenesis-based approaches. Core 5. Multiphoton and Confocal Imaging, will be jointly established and funded with the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center (NDRC) at UNC. This core will support visualization of migration, axon projection, and dendritic growth in single cells, brain slices and living animals carrying transgenes or mutations generated with the assistance of Cores 3 and 4. The Cores will be housed within space allotted to the Neuroscience Center in a recently completed 8-story Neuroscience Research Building on the School of Medicine campus. The UNC School of Medicine and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center have committed $480,000 toward establishing these Core facilities. The research efforts of 13 NINDS grantees will be supported and extended by the Cores. All of these investigators are members of the UNC Neuroscience Center with joint or primary appointments in basic and clinical departments at the UNC School of Medicine and in the Dept. of Chemistry on the main campus. Eight of the grantees are in adjacent or closely proximate newly constructed laboratory space. Established investigators with expertise in molecular approaches to signaling in the developing or regenerating nervous system will supervise the Cores. In addition, four recently recruited young investigators who are expert in the technologies involved and who are expected to be NINDS grantees in the near future will help direct the Cores and will also be users. A careful operational plan has been developed to govern usage by the group of 13 NINDS grantees with qualifying projects; the four recently recruited young investigators, a group of investigators in the NDRC studying brain development, and the other 15 NINDS grantees on the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus. The quality and relevance of these Core services and their efficient operation will greatly enhance the productivity of NINDS-funded neuroscience research at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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