This is a competitive renewal application from a successful University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Neuroscience Core Center. The Neuroscience Core Center at UAB builds upon the University's 30 years of contributions to interdisciplinary neuroscience research. The mission of the Core Center is to provide stateof- the-art resources that advance collaborative team approaches to neuroscience. The Behavioral Assessment Core (Core A) provides both service-oriented behavioral phenotyping and research staff training to investigators using rodents. In the renewal, facilities for emotional and fear conditioning, an important emerging area of research within the UAB Neuroscience community, will be added. The Molecular Detection Core (Core B) will offer sensitive, standardized immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization technologies. The utility of this core will be enhanced by the addition of facilities for tissue sectioning and embedding. An increased focus on protocol development and investigator training will insure that these methods are successfully transferred to individual groups of investigators. The Protein Interaction Core (Core C) services will provide expression cloning of cDNAs and genomic sequences in vectors appropriate for identification of protein interactions, perform two-hybrid screening to identify protein interactions and provide viral vectors for expression of GFP and/or shRNA. New tervices will include constructs for tandem affinity pruification (TAP) and adenoviruses (AAVs) for in vivo applications. Core C will emphasize generation of vectors and viruses that can be used in vivo. The Administrative Core (Core D) will provide administrative and scientific leadership. In the renewal, Core D leadership will also provide active mentorship of junior faculty in Co- Director positions. Collectively, the cores promote multidisciplinary collaboration and exchange of information and technologic advances, attract new investigators to neuroscience research, develop collaborative research activities with other institutions and increase the quality and productivity of funded research projects in a cost-effective manner.
NINDS-funded UAB investigators conduct research on the causes, prevention and treatment of neurological disorders. The UAB Neuroscience Core Center provides support for these endeavors, thereby increasing the productivity of these researchers and enhancing the impact of their neuroscience research.
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