Core Center for Balance and Hearing Research

描述（由申请人提供）：匹兹堡大学平衡研究核心中心补助金的竞争延续将由单个核心组成，即计算核心。计算和听力核心将为基础科学家和临床研究人员提供服务，他们使用动物模型、正常人类受试者和平衡障碍患者进行与平衡和听力相关的研究。计算核心的总体目标是为NIDCD任务领域独立资助的一组科学家提供高效和成本效益的计算支持。核心中心旨在促进合作研究活动，并提高研究效率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This competing continuation of the Core Center Grant for Balance Research at the University of Pittsburgh will consist of a single core, a Computing Core. The Computing and Hearing Core will serve both basic scientists and clinical investigators who perform research related to balance and hearing using animal models, balance in normal human subjects, and patients with balance disorders. The overall goal of the Computing Core is to provide efficient and cost effective computing support to a group of scientists who are independently funded in NIDCD mission areas. The Core Center aims to foster collaborative research activities, as well as improving research productivity. The Computing Core will support activities in multiple laboratories and shared facilities, primarily via the activities of a scientific programmer who is an expert in real-time computing and scientific data analysis. The laboratories and facilities to be supported by the scientific programmer each perform research in an NIDCD mission area on either animal models or human subjects. Software will be developed and maintained for delivering sensory stimuli, recording physiologic responses, and processing data. Animal research activities that will make use of the services of the Computing Core will be performed in several facilities capable of delivering precise, computer-controlled physiologic stimulation and recording in the mammalian models. The laboratories that study human subjects that will be serviced by the Computing Core include: 1) a Virtual Environment Laboratory that consists of a projection-based immersive environment allowing control of the entire visual field while subjects stand on a fixed or moving surface, 2) a Human Vestibular Laboratory consisting of rotational devices and computerized posturography, and 3) a Vestibular Psychophysiology Laboratory. The Computing Core is expected to facilitate additional new experiments that go beyond the capabilities of the existing individual laboratories. The Computer Core will foster collaborative interactions among investigators with various backgrounds including bioengineering, and neurology. The Computing Core will occupy primarily a 100 square foot office in the Otolaryngology Research Center in the Eye & Ear Institute for the Scientific Programmer. The Core Grant Director will manage the resources of the Core to assure appropriate resource allocation.