INTEGRATING AND COORDINATING THE INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO DRUG ABUSE

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The Core provides the mechanism for integrating and coordinating the interdisciplinary approaches to drug abuse research at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). It provides shared resources and serves to Facilitate communication among all investigators in the Center. Moreover, the Core is available to all drug abuse researchers at VCU. It serves as a mechanism for fostering interactions among the participants in the Center and those who are supported by other NIDA grants. The Core consists of four components. The Administrative Component is responsible for scheduling drug abuse seminars, attending to travel for invited speakers, organizing regular meetings for participating faculty, coordinating scientific exchange, distribution of drugs to collaborators, and fostering training. The Mass Spectrometry Component provides qualitative and quantitative sample analysis that is essential for many of the drug abuse research projects at the University. The Small Grants Program will support two VCU faculty members yearly. The goals are to fund promising young investigators who demonstrate potential for independent research, to attract senior scientists from other fields into drug abuse research, and to foster new collaborations. Past awardees have subsequently been very successful in obtaining their own individual funding as a result of the Small Grants Program. The Mouse 'Knock-out Facility' provides genetically modified mice to investigators working in cannabinoid, opioid, and nicotine areas. The facility will allow sufficient breeding so that adequate numbers of animals will be available. A major advantage of a Center Core is that it provides shared resources that are more economical and that are sometimes not available unless they are funded by this type mechanism. Of course, the Core also affords the opportunity for researchers from many different disciplines to become familiar with areas of research that will complement their own endeavors. It is also through the Core that we are able to be a national resource.