Core A will coordinate the resources and facilities necessary for attaining the scientific mission of the CCNMD. It will have four complementary functions: 1. Administrative Coordination of CCNMD investigators, trainees and personnel will include implementation of NIH, University and IRB guidelines of fiscal monitoring, allocation of resources, progress reports, grant preparation, human subjects and animal protocols; review new initiatives; provide liaison with University and Community; establish policies when indicated. 2. Academic Coordination among CCNMD investigators, trainees and personnel will include communication of findings across CCNMD laboratories; integration of educational activities, such as seminars and presentations of speakers; liaison with neuroscience interest groups across campus and in other academic settings; recruitment of highly qualified predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. The CCNMD will maintain a comprehensive outreach program to the community that will contribute to dissemination of information regarding basic and clinical neuroscience research in schizophrenia through speakers in local, regional and national meetings and in an openhouse format, inviting the public to Penn. With Core B and Projects, this Core will coordinate the Center's website, ensure access to data, research tools and biological material generated by the Center, and facilitate interaction with the Advisory Board. 3. Recruitment and assessment for CCNMD human Projects (I, II, V). Standardized procedures will be applied to participants with schizophrenia and healthy people. This will include evaluation of medical, neurological and psychiatric status and computerized neurocognitive measures. The Core will assess systematically the clinical history and presentation of individuals whose brains are donated for postmortem research in Project V and coordinate data transfer to Data and Biostatistics Core (Core B) and Projects (I, II, V, VI). Core A will maintain a registry for future studies and integrative projects, and provide training in clinical neuroscience assessment to graduate students, fellows and investigators in the Center and collaborating programs. 4. Allocation of participants to animal projects will provide coordination of the protocols, tracking with the Core B the flow of participants across Projects III, IV and V and work closely with investigators and research personnel in the animal projects to ensure that the scientific goals are met. This will be done in parallel to the human studies maintaining high level of integration across the Center.
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