Specific Aims: The goals of the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Core are to support research of Investigatorsacross the Core Center by designing and building commercially unavailable parts, devices and machines, andby maintaining the machinery currently in use.
The aim i s to keep the research at the cutting edge in each fieldaided by the services of the machinists in the ME Core, and to promote collaborations among the individualPi's. Over the last grant period, the ME Core has helped develop an infrastructure for research at Mount SinaiSchool of Medicine and Brooklyn College that has facilitated collaboration while enhancing individual research.This has generated new funded projects, as well as new collaborations that will expand the scope of the Core.The ME Core will continue to enhance the infrastructure during the next grant period by providing support fornew projects and collaborations, as well as by enhancing work in ongoing projects. This will be accomplishedin two Specific Aims.
Specific Aim 1 : Design and Build Commercially Unavailable Parts and Devices to Broaden the Scope ofResearch and Foster Collaborations:A. Monkey Single Unit and Locomotion Experiments (Yakushin/Raphan/Cohen): 1. Work with the C/EECore to develop a training system for monkeys walking on a treadmill in the monkey locomotion experiments,so animals will watch a fixed point in space while they receive a water reward. Mount the screen displaying thetargets on the linear treadmill. 2. Design and build (with the C/EE Core) new motor-driven micromanipulatorsthat will be used for single unit studies of gravity-dependent gain adaptation in the monkey, and for unitrecording in freely-moving monkeys during locomotion studies. 3. Design and build a device for the Cosmosrotator to measure the cervico-ocular reflex (COR) in monkeys, so the monkey's body can be oscillated withthe head fixed or the head can be oscillated with the body fixed. 4. Design and build a primate chair forrecording muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) from the peroneal nerve of monkeys in the COSMOSrotator and on the 'linear sled on a rotator' (Linear Sled).B. Mouse Physiological, Neuroanatomic and Molecular Biological Studies (Yakushin/ Holstein/Sealfon/Margolskee/Max/Bedrich/Cohen/Sclafani/Raphan): 1. Configure the linear sled and rotator for mice. It iscurrently used for monkeys. Manufacture a new mouse holder that will fit into the mount on the linear sled. 2.Design and build new gimbal devices that will allow centrifugation of mice at varying levels of g at any attituderelative to the axis of rotation and the centripetal linear acceleration. 3. Mount the binocular mouse eyemovement system on the device to record eye movements during centrifugation. 4. Manufacture smallrotational devices to test mice at Brooklyn College in studies of food aversion following centrifugation indifferent orientations.C. Human Motion Sickness and Vestibulo-Autonomic Studies (Dai/Cohen/Kaufmann/Raphan/Straumann): 1. Design and build with the C/EE Core, a new 3-D optokinetic stimulator with new gears andmotors for the OVAR enclosure. 2. Develop a new head holder for the OVAR chair so that the head does notmove during the rotations. Remount the video cameras that record eye movements. 3. With the C/EE Core,design and build a computer-controlled device to measure the subjective visual vertical while stationary andduring OVAR. 4. Mount humidity and temperature controls in the OVAR enclosure and blood pressure, heartrate, and respiratory devices on the OVAR chair. 5. Design and construct a bed for the Circular Treadmill toplace subjects on their sides to habituate their vertical aVOR.D. Human Locomotion Studies (Raphan/Cohen/Cho/Smouha/Olanow): 1. Design and build a mechanismfor raising the back of the linear treadmill to study walking downhill. 2. Design and build a gimbaled positioningmechanisms for a laser pointer so that head movements can be directed automatically and tested in patientswith dystonia. 3. Design and build a harness on a sliding support on the ceiling to study climbing anddescending a staircase.
Specific Aim 2 : Maintain and repair mechanical equipment: Vestibular research is heavily dependent on awide variety of mechanical and electromechanical devices. In many instances, maintenance by the originalmanufacturers is not available but safety is essential. Therefore: 1. Regularly inspect, maintain and, ifnecessary, replace hoses in the hydraulic system that tilt the OVAR chair used in motion sickness studies.Also, regularly maintain motors that run the linear and circular treadmills. 2. Do emergency repair, smallmodifications, and routine maintenance of commercial machines, since using outside mechanics, is not onlycostly but generally not possible
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