Build-out of an Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience Facility for Hispanic Health Disparities at UTEP

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PROJECT SUMMARY The goal of this proposal is to obtain funding to build-out existing shell space in the new interdisciplinary research building (IDRB) recently constructed on the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) campus, and commission it according to its proposed usage as an Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience (IBN) Facility. This facility will serve as a focal point in our region for education and biomedical research that addresses health issues affecting people living on the United States (U.S.)-Mexico border region, which has a predominant Mexican-origin Hispanic population. Hispanic persons live with marked health disparities, and reducing Hispanic health disparities is important to regional and national healthcare systems as Hispanic persons are the largest and fastest growing ethnic demographic in the U.S. UTEP has been strategic in its mission as an Institution of Emerging Research Excellence to facilitate biomedical research initiatives and train the next generation of biomedical researchers, and much of this effort has centered on the Border Biomedical Research Center which has provided core facility support for UTEP investigators. In a strategic initiative to expand the capacity for and accelerate the completion of collaborative research initiatives, an Interdisciplinary Research Building, funded with state of Texas appropriated funds, has recently been completed on the UTEP campus and the proposed facility will be located on the first floor of the building. The IBN Facility will provide high-capacity behavioral tests and high-throughput imaging with high-resolution imaging of brain circuits and tumor samples to provide an integrated analytical platform that significantly advances the current UTEP biomedical research infrastructure. This new facility is a first of its kind in our region and will expand biomedical-related interdisciplinary research across multiple UTEP Colleges as well as strengthen collaborations with our local Texas Tech and Burrell Osteopathic Medical Schools. The long-term goal is to establish an Imaging Facility that serves as a nexus for interdisciplinary and vertically-integrated research, that will exert a sustained and powerful influence by 1) facilitating the development of pre-clinical models as platforms for potential translational contributions, and 2) developing interdisciplinary research teams that can address increasingly complex and impactful investigative areas, thereby positioning UTEP at the leading edge of biomedical research associated with pre-clinical models of Hispanic health disparities.