Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers 2008

本申请是根据RFA-HD-07-012向肯尼迪·克里格研究所和约翰·霍普金斯大学智力发育迟滞和发育障碍研究中心(MRDDRC)提出的21至25年的持续支持申请。 MRDDRC由行政核心(核心A)和四个研究核心(核心B、C、D和E)组成。核心A(行政)，为中心提供全面领导、管理和组织支持，经营教育部分(讲座和研讨会)，将用户与生物统计服务联系起来(一个研究分部)，协助准备IRB材料，监测人类研究保护问题，并开发参与者登记册。核心B(遗传学)提供集中式组织培养、氨基酸/有机酸分析、标准和分子细胞遗传学、专门的分子遗传学(DNA和RNA分析)、微阵列和生物信息学。CORE C(神经科学)提供突触神经化学(专注于组织学成像和高效液相色谱)和脂质生物化学(脂质代谢、脂肪酸分析和质谱学服务)。核心D(神经成像)提供从功能磁共振成像、体积成像、扩散张量成像和光谱成像获得的数据的采集和定量分析。核心E(行为科学)提供与研究方案合作的受试者培训，选择和管理标准化测试(发展、认知和功能)，直接观察行为，设计功能磁共振激活范例，以及运动分析(例如，记录运动领域内步态、伸展和学习行为的量化计算机辅助方法)。 核心单位为156个项目提供服务，这些项目代表着目前NIH每年直接提供的总额超过1.04亿美元的支持。该计划涉及RFA-HD-07-012规定的31个优先领域中的30个，具有跨学科合作和一个中心主题，即基因导致智力低下或发育障碍的特定认知和行为表型的大脑机制。

This application for continued support of Years 21 through 25 of the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University is submitted in response to RFA-HD-07-012. The MRDDRC consists of the Administrative Core (Core A) with four subdivisions, and four research cores (Cores B, C, D, and E). Core A (Administrative), provides overall leadership, management, and organizational support to the Center, operates the educational component (lectures and seminars), links users to biostatistical services (a research subdivision), assists with preparation of IRB materials, monitors issues of human research protection, and develops participant registries. Core B (Genetics) provides centralized tissue culture, amino acid/organic acid analyses, standard and molecular cytogenetics, specialized molecular genetics (DNA and RNA analyses) microarrarys and bioinformatics. Core C (Neuroscience) provides synaptic neurochemistry (focusing on histology imaging and high performance liquid chromatography) and lipid biochemistry (lipid metabolism, fatty acid analysis, and mass spectrometry services). Core D (Neuroimaging) provides for acquisition and quantitative analysis of data derived from functional, volumetic, diffusion tensor, and spectroscopic MR imaging. Core E (Behavior Science) offers training of subjects for cooperation with research protocols, selection and administration of standardized tests (developmental, cognitive, and functional), direct observations of behavior, design of activation paradigms for fMRI, and motion analysis (e.g., quantitative computer-assisted methods of documenting gaits, reaching, and learning behaviors within the motor domain). The core units serve 156 projects representing current direct annual NIH support totaling over $104 million dollars. The program addresses 30 of the 31 priority areas set forth in the RFA-HD-07-012, featuring interdisciplinary collaboration and a central theme, brain mechanisms whereby genotypes result in specific cognitive and behavioral phenotypes of mental retardation or developmental disability.