Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Abstract The mission of the Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core (NEC) is to provide District of Columbia Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (DC-IDDRC) investigators with resources to link underlying biological mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders with behavioral and cognitive outcomes as measured in humans and animal models. DC-IDDRC investigators have access to state-of-the-art neurobehavioral assessment tools in humans and cognate animal models to integrate preclinical and clinical studies with genetic and neurobiological analysis of abnormalities associated with IDDs. The NEC enhances efficiency by providing access to expert personnel and testing tools not available to individual labs or investigators. The NEC is comprised of two complementary subcores; the Human Neurobehavior Core (HNEC), directed by Madison Berl, PhD and the Animal Neurobehavior Core (ANEC) directed by Joshua Corbin, PhD. The primary objectives of the NEC are to provide: (a) overall vision, planning, training and implementation of human behavioral tasks and complementary behavioral assessments in cognate animal models of human neurodevelopmental disorders, (b) to develop, maintain and implement state of the art platforms and resources for human and animal neurobehavior investigation and across multiple animal models, (c) to collaborate and integrate with all DC-IDDRC cores to unravel neurobiological mechanisms from genes to circuits to behaviors underlying a host of IDDs, (d) to facilitate the conduct of robust, reproducible and rigorous scientific investigation with a high impact on the field of neuroscience and IDDs, (e) to disseminate findings broadly to the scientific and academic communities via publications, presentations and international conference forums, (f) to use the knowledge gained from human and animal behavior assessments to test and translate findings from the bench to the bedside. These goals will be achieved in the following specific aims: (1) To define the consequences of IDDs on human neurobehavior and animal behavioral correlates, (2) To expand and implement the use state-of-the-art technologies for human and animal behavior assessment and (3) To develop/identify longitudinal assessment paradigms that are sensitive to change in IDDs in humans and animal models and that will be critical for monitoring success of intervention studies. The NEC has long standing strengths in the analysis of humans and animal models of a number of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal/neonatal brain injury. Over the past years, our highly successful animal model studies have elucidated cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying physiological and behavioral abnormalities in these prevalent conditions, while our human investigation has linked atypical trajectories of brain development to their structural and behavioral correlates. Building on these strengths, our increasing variety and sophisticated human and animal behavioral assessment platforms will also be widely applicable across a host of neurodevelopmental conditions.