Behavioral Neuroscience Research Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY: BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE CORE The Behavioral Neuroscience (BN) Core will support the overarching goals of the Cognitive and Neurobiological Approaches to Plasticity (CNAP) Center through the provision of resources, equipment, and technical support to enhance the research capabilities of CNAP primary projects and programs. The BN Core, housed within the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kansas State University, is the only dedicated BN core in Psychology in the state of Kansas. In Phase 2, the BN Core facility will be modernized and augmented through the addition of major equipment items to expand the capabilities of the facility and provide additional technical support. The BN Core will directly support two of the proposed Phase 2 primary projects (Diehl and Hall), the pilot grant and Scientific Exchange Network (SEN) programs, and the current community of users in the behavioral neuroscience program. The proposed modernization of the facility will promote the growth of behavioral neuroscience into exciting and innovative research areas that incorporate state-of-the-art techniques that will improve the research infrastructure for animal neuroscience research at K-State. Upgrades will allow the BN Core to introduce extracellular electrophysiological recordings coupled with optogenetics into research programs and will increase support for a range of biochemical assays, fluorescence microscopy, and Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs). The expansion of core facilities will also support CNAP programs by providing an excellent training environment for SEN partners. The Core Director and Core Technician will supply expertise in neuroscience and behavioral techniques to CNAP members with laboratories housed outside of the core facility. The comprehensive goal of the BN Core is to promote the ability of CNAP researchers to compete for extramural funding by incorporating technologies that are needed to answer the most challenging questions facing modern neuroscience researchers. The core is directed by Dr. Charles Pickens, a nationally known researcher in behavioral neuroscience in neural circuits of decision-making in animal models. Additional training and mentoring will be supplied by the CNAP mentoring team, External Advisory Committee members, and members from the BN collaborative network at K-State. A full-time Animal Care Technician will provide daily facility cleaning and maintenance and will meet the animal care and husbandry needs of facility users. Overall, the BN Core will support the attainment of the CNAP overarching aims by contributing to the success and growth of animal models of cognitive and neural plasticity, a central component of CNAP.