Cell Electrophysiology Core

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Cell Electrophysiology Core Summary The primary purpose for this core is to support infrastructure to provide investigators in the neuroscience community in Delaware with access to electrophysiological methods to answer their research questions. Cell electrophysiology provides unique functional assessment and characterization of excitable cells, tissues and ion channels. However, electrophysiological experiments require expensive, specialized equipment, as well as years of time to develop the necessary technical skills for data collection and analysis, and are therefore out of reach for laboratories that are not specialized in that area. This core was established as part of our Phase II COBRE in response to a needs-assessment among the biomedical research community in Delaware that identified a pool of 13 externally-funded researchers throughout the state who wanted to collect electrophysiological data from their model systems, but lacked the means to do so. A survey of graduate students conducted at the annual Delaware Neuroscience Symposium in 2018 found many would like to get some experience with cell electrophysiology to expand the scope of their research projects and broaden their repertoire of techniques. Support from our Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research COBRE and the statewide Delaware IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) enabled the purchase of electrophysiology instrumentation supporting traditional patch clamp, multi-electrode array recordings, and automated patch clamp, ensuring state-of- the-art instrumentation in the core. Our core will provide Delaware neuroscientists access to electrophysiological techniques, experienced collaborators and consulting expertise that will increase the innovation and impact of their research and make them more competitive for external funding. Continued support through a Phase III COBRE award will allow broad dissemination of the availability of our CE Core, its instrumentation and services. By the end of our Phase III award we expect that our CE Core will have measurable downstream impacts including increased numbers of research publications and greater external funding at Delaware State University, an Historically Black university, as well as across the state of Delaware. The increased level of research activity will provide new research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students both within the DSU and other institutions in Delaware.