NIDCD P30 Core: Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center

描述（由申请人提供）：落基山味觉和嗅觉中心（RMTSC）由NIDCD的P30核心中心资助，为12名主要研究人员提供服务，其中包括在化学感官领域取得重大成就的科学家以及在神经生物学其他领域具有专业知识的研究人员。RMTSC的总体目标是通过提供公共资源和将富有成效的研究人员聚集在一个支持性的互动环境中，促进化学感官的研究。RMTSC通过三个核心提供支持服务：1)行政核心；2) Core A：转基因/基因靶向小鼠Core；3)核心B：细胞可视化和分析核心。在这个补充申请中，我们寻求对RMTSC的核心A的支持，这在我们的竞争性更新中没有得到资助。在过去的十年里，对小鼠的主动基因操作从根本上提高了我们研究发育和功能的能力。尽管对涉及小鼠胚胎遗传操作的实验的解释必须谨慎进行，但监测单个基因修饰后整个生物体变化的能力使这项技术成为现代神经生物学研究中不可或缺的工具。核心A的总体目标是促进转基因小鼠的使用。为了实现这一目标，提出了三个具体目标：1)维持转基因小鼠；2)对转基因小鼠后代进行基因分型；3)为研究人员设计基因改造小鼠的结构提供建议。将这些服务整合到一个核心设施中，使单个研究人员能够更有效地将精力集中在研究问题上，而且比在单个实验室中重复使用设施更具成本效益。由于转基因/基因靶向小鼠的生产和维护成本高昂，Core提供的服务对初级研究人员尤为重要。核心还将成为整个科学界的资源，因为转基因小鼠将在发表后可用

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center (RMTSC), funded by a P30 Core Center grant from NIDCD, provides services to twelve principal investigators including scientists with a substantial record of accomplishment in the field of chemical senses as well as investigators with expertise in other areas of neurobiology. The overall goal of the RMTSC is to facilitate research in the chemical senses by providing communal resources and by bringing together productive investigators into a supportive, interactive environment. The RMTSC provides support services through three cores: 1) Administrative Core; 2) Core A: Transgenic/Gene-targeted Mouse Core; and 3) Core B: Cellular Visualization and Analysis Core. In this supplemental application we seek support for Core A of the RMTSC, which was not funded in our competitive renewal. Within the last decade, active genetic manipulation of mice has fundamentally increased our ability to study development and function. Although interpretation of experiments involving genetic manipulation of mouse embryos must be performed with care, the ability to monitor changes in an entire organism upon modification of a single gene makes this technique an indispensable tool for modern inquiry in neurobiology. The overall goal of Core A is to facilitate use of genetically altered mice. In order to attain this goal, three specific aims are delineated: 1) to maintain genetically altered mice; 2) to genotype offspring of genetically altered mice; and 3) to advise investigators in designing constructs for generation of genetically altered mice. Consolidation of these services in a Core facility enables individual investigators to focus efforts more efficiently on research questions and is more cost effective than duplication of facilities in individual laboratories. Because the production and maintenance of transgenic/gene-targeted mice is expensive, the services provided by the Core are particularly important for junior investigators. The Core will also be a resource for the scientific community at large because genetically altered mice will be made available following publication