COBRE: UVM MED: CORE A: ADMINISTRATIVE & INTELLECTUAL CORE

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The primary goal of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Neuroscience (Neuroscience COBRE) has been to enhance the infrastructure of neuroscience research and graduate training across the University of Vermont (UVM) campus. During the past year, which represents the sixth year of funding, the Neuroscience COBRE continued to have two main aims: (1) to support the research and intellectual infrastructure of a University-wide Center for Neuroscience Excellence at UVM and (2) to promote the research development of neuroscience faculty who will be the future leaders in the UVM Center for Neuroscience Excellence. Significant progress continues to be made in meeting these goals. Research projects of four new neuroscience investigators, Drs. Miguel Martin-Caraballo from the Department of Biology; Alan Howe from the Department of Pharmacology, Jeffrey Spees from the Department of Medicine and Uma Wesley from the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, are presently funded by this grant. Faculty mentoring is a major emphasis of this program and currently senior faculty guide the research activities of each of these four COBRE-supported neuroscience investigators. During this past year, Neuroscience COBRE funds also were used to help a new faculty recruit, Dr. Michael Cannizzaro in the Department of Communication Sciences, develop his laboratory and to provide interim funds to an established investigator, Dr. Cedric Wesley from the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, whose NIH funding has lapsed. The Neuroscience COBRE grant continues to support two multi-user research core facilities, the Cellular/Molecular Biology Core and Imaging/Physiology Core. These CORES were established by the initial COBRE award. These core facilities provide access to research tools that are critical to the work proposed in the four neuroscience faculty projects and support research programs of many other UVM neuroscientists. Both Cores have continued to be very successful as measured by the increasing numbers of users and by acquisition of additional equipment to meet the needs of the user group. The Translational Core, a third core developed in year 2 of the initial funding period, facilitates the interaction between basic and clinical neuroscientists. The Translational Core supports a didactic course, entitled the Biological Basis of Neurological Disease, which is presented to graduate students, residents and faculty. The Translational Core also provides the stipend for Joseph Cheung, a MD/PhD student, whose research is being conducted in a neuroscience faculty laboratory. The Core also provides stipends for undergraduate students who participate in our Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Neuroscience. This past year, the translational Core also provided research and travel support to a surgery resident, Dr. Michael Wood, who is completing a year-long research rotation in Dr. Gary Mawes laboratory in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. The COBRE award supported the fourth plenary Neuroscience lecture which was presented by Dr. Mahendra Rao, a member of the External Advisory Board. His talk was presented during a two-day visit, November 10-11, in which he reviewed the programs of two of the new COBRE Investigators, Drs. Jeffrey Spees and Uma Wesley. Dr. Rao provided very insightful and instructive comments to both investigators; his critique of their projects is appended. The COBRE Center for Neuroscience Excellence also co-sponsored with the local Vermont Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience the annual neuroscience retreat which coincided with Dr. Raos visit. This program highlights neuroscience research accomplishments at UVM and consisted of oral presentations by neuroscientists from departments across the UVM campus. This off campus retreat is a great forum for facilitating faculty interactions. The Internal Advisory Board of the Neuroscience COBRE, all mentors and participating faculty also held two half-day COBRE program review meetings to critique progress of the four COBRE-supported investigators. For each session, two of the investigators gave an over view of their specific aims and progress to date. The two internal review sessions also were very successful in providing important insight and guidance to these investigators. One of the objectives of the Neuroscience COBRE is to facilitate interactions between basic and clinical scientists around a common area of research/clinical interest. This past year, a strong interaction has evolved around the area of neuroblastoma research and treatment. The participants included Dr. Uma Wesley, a Neuroscience COBRE Project Director and Dr. Rae Nishi, a member of the COBRE Internal Advisory Committee. The Neuroscience COBRE was one of the sponsors of a "Developments in Neuroblastoma Research Symposium" held through the Vermont Cancer Center at the University of Vermont March 16, 2007. The program describing this meeting is appended. A major accomplishment made during the first COBRE funding period was the development of a university-wide Neuroscience Doctoral Training Program. The current COBRE grant continues to support this multi-disciplinary graduate training program in Neuroscience as many of the participating faculty are involved with the Neuroscience COBRE. Stipends for graduate students working in the laboratories of the four Project Directors are available through the COBRE funding. The training faculty are derived from multiple departments in many Colleges across the campus; thus, the breadth of training opportunities is very diverse. We are currently in the second year of this program and both the number and quality of students applying to the program has increased markedly. Dr. Rae Nishi a COBRE mentor and member of the Internal Advisory Board is the first Director of the graduate program.