NEURAL MECHANISMS OF ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for continuation of our Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on NEURAL MECHANISMS OF ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR at the University of South Dakota. Both human and animal subjects are able to modify their behavior in response to environmental situations. Behavioral modifications in response to the environment are an external manifestation of adaptive mechanisms that take place in neuronal circuits in the brain. Such adaptations also occur in response to internal cues such as stress and anxiety and maladaptive behavioral responses may be generated as may occur in mental illness. A major research goal of our COBRE is to understand how functional and structural reorganization of neuronal pathways results in adaptive, or in some cases maladaptive, behavioral responses to external or perceived experiences. Moreover, a primary objective of our COBRE in the proposed funding period is to significantly develop clinical neuroscience research at our institution through the research strengths of our basic scientists. To achieve this aim, the five new research projects proposed by our COBRE will examine cellular changes that occur during learning and brain disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety and addiction, and will provide a bridge toward establishing a base for collaborative patient-oriented research among basic scientists and clinicians. The Neuroscience Group at the University of South Dakota (USD) and University of South Dakota School of Medicine (USDSM) has undergone significant expansion in the basic sciences in the last several years due largely by the funding of our COBRE. With continued funding, we propose to expand neuroscience basic and clinical research in a region, the northern midwest, that is traditionally highly underserved in terms of mental health care and underfunded for both basic and clinical research directed at enhancing treatments related to improving brain dysfunction following trauma or in disease states.