CENTER FOR NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION SCIENCE

描述(由申请人提供)：日常生活中最引人注目的特征包括在我们的环境中导航和相互交流的能力。这些功能是生存的基础，但也是最先遇到疾病或老化的神经系统问题的功能之一。罗切斯特大学拥有一套由NIH支持的研究项目，致力于导航和通信背后的感觉、运动、综合和细胞机制。研究范围从分子和遗传方法到清醒动物的细胞神经生理学，再到人类感知，并包括强大的翻译和临床元素。这些特点为我们的P-30导航和通信科学中心(CNCS)提供了一个令人信服的框架。在过去的拨款期间，CNCS现在以超出所有预期的稳定状态运行，这在很大程度上要归功于与之相匹配的敬业和敬业的教职员工的坚定领导，合作和共享的核心服务，强大的咨询和质量保证流程，以及事实证明对新的合作和新的研究人员具有吸引力的基础设施和社区。CNCS使研究人员能够高效地共享昂贵、耗时、必要但繁琐的创新研究服务。CNCS包括三个核心：1)人类受试者核心，以整合和协调各项目受试者的招募、筛选、调度和数据库；2)研究服务核心，包括组织学和成像股(组织准备、图像分析和重建)、电子/机械车间(修复和建造实验室部件和设备)、动物研究股(突变和基因敲除准备、饲养和筛选)和蛋白质组学股(专门蛋白质分析)；3)技术和计算核心，包括实验室技术单元(用于刺激和行为控制、数据和分析的自动化实验室系统)和计算单元，以支持PC和网络操作、软件库、网络支持和员工培训。一些服务单位与神经生物学和解剖学系、视觉科学中心(NEI-P30)和两个项目(NIA-P01和NINDS-P01)共享支持。CNCS利用了我们固有的大学生态，并通过在专用空间中的杰出核心人员和设施来增强我们的实验室能力。所有的核心和单元都高效地运行，并平衡了提供所需的有时平凡的服务以及转变为未来能力的新颖和创新解决方案的综合目标。这确保了在强大的基础设施中为所有人提供高质量、高效和多样化的服务，从而丰富了我们研究的生产力，促进了研究人员之间的合作，吸引了新的教职员工和学生加入我们的研究任务，促进了进一步的机构支持，并最终为社区和国家的健康做出了贡献。 核心B 人类主体核心 导演：罗伯特·D·弗里西纳，博士 医务主任：Gary D.Paige，医学博士，博士。 描述(由申请者提供)：核心中心内的各种研究项目均采用人类受试者。人类学科核心(HSC)集中了一套共同的程序，由经验丰富的工作人员操作，在核心支持的研究研究中与受试者以及教职员工、学生和实验室工作人员有效互动，从而极大地促进了我们的集体研究目标。核心提供几项关键服务。首先，核心协调人类受试者在研究项目(正常和患者)中的招募和筛选。这包括确定受试者和获得知情同意，然后进行基本医学和感觉运动/神经学检查，以及与核心研究目标人群相关的生理和认知筛查。目前正在研究的人群包括不同年龄段的正常受试者，患有特定神经疾病(例如遗传性共济失调、阿尔茨海默氏症和其他退行性疾病)的受试者，以及患有特定感觉丧失(听力、视力、前庭)的受试者，但其他方面都很健康。其次，核心协调跨项目的计划和跟踪，以最大限度地提高受试者、调查人员和工作人员的效率和便利性。此外，跨研究使用共同的主题提供了新的和配对的观察结果，提高了生产率，并激发了新的和协作的研究。第三，核心维护一个强大的现代数据库，为调查人员和工作人员提供对数据和分析工具的保护访问。这项中央服务促进了新的研究，同时使现有的研究更有效率。第四，核心服务包括协调所有人体研究所需的方案批准、工作人员资格认证和记录保存。上述服务和任务通过一个由经验丰富和训练有素的工作人员协调的中央结构而变得非常高效。这些好处为教职员工节省了时间和精力，使他们能够追求更直接相关的研究目标，同时促进新的项目和合作。这一点在核心中心人类研究的增长中很明显，包括新教师和正在进行的教师的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The most compelling features of daily life include the ability to navigate through our environment and to communicate with each other. These functions are fundamental to survival, but are also among the first to encounter trouble in the diseased or aging nervous system. The University of Rochester holds a set of NIH-supported research programs dedicated to the sensory, motor, integrative, and cellular mechanisms underlying navigation and communication. Research ranges from molecular and genetic approaches to cellular neurophysiology in awake animals to human perception, and includes strong translational and clinical elements. These characteristics provide a compelling framework for our P-30, Center for Navigation and Communication Sciences (CNCS). New this past grant period, the CNCS is now operating at a steady-state that exceeds all expectations, largely due to committed leadership matched by a dedicated and engaged faculty and staff, cooperative and shared Core services, a strong advisory and quality assurance process, and an infrastructure and community that has proven attractive to new collaborations and new investigators. The CNCS allows investigators to efficiently share costly, time-consuming, essential but cumbersome, and innovative research services. The CNCS includes three Cores: 1) a Human Subjects Core to consolidate and coordinate the recruitment, screening, scheduling, and databasing of subjects across projects; 2) a Research Services Core that includes a Histology & Imaging Unit (tissue preparation, image analysis & reconstruction), an Electronic/Mechanical Shop (repair and construction of lab components and devices), an Animal Research Unit (mutant and knockout preparations, husbandry and screening), and a Proteomics Unit (specialized protein analysis); and 3) a Technology and Computation Core, including a Lab Technology Unit (automated lab systems for stimulus and behavioral control, data and analysis) and a Computation Unit to support PC and network operations, software library, web support, and staff training. Some service Units share support with the Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy, the Center for Visual Science (an NEI-P30), and two program projects (an NIA-P01 and an NINDS-P01). The CNCS exploits our inherently collegiate ecology and augments our lab capabilities through outstanding Core personnel and facilities in dedicated space. All Cores and Units operate efficiently and balance the combined goals of providing both needed though sometimes-mundane services as well as novel and innovative solutions that transform into tomorrow's capabilities. This ensures high-quality, efficient, and diverse services to all, in a robust infrastructure that enriches the productivity of our research, promotes collaborations among investigators, attracts new faculty and students to our research mission, facilitates further institutional support, and ultimately contributes to the health of the community and the nation. Core B Human Subjects Core Director: Robert D. Frisina, Ph.D. Medical Director: Gary D. Paige, M.D., Ph.D. DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A variety of research projects within the Core-Center employs human subjects. The Human Subjects Core (HSC) greatly facilitates our collective research goals by centralizing a set of common procedures, operated by a seasoned staff that interacts effectively with both the subjects and with faculty, students, and laboratory staff within the research studies supported by the Core. The Core provides several key services. First, the Core coordinates recruitment and screening of human subjects across research projects (normal and patient). This includes identifying subjects and obtaining informed consent, followed by basic medical and sensorimotor/neurologic exams, as well as physiologic and cognitive screening relevant to the populations targeted by Core studies. Populations now under study include normal subjects across a broad range of ages, subjects with specific neurological disorders (e.g. inherited ataxias, Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases), and subjects with specific sensory loss (hearing, vision, vestibular), but otherwise healthy. Second, the Core coordinates scheduling and tracking across projects in order to maximize efficiency and convenience for subjects, investigators, and staff. Further, the use of common subjects across studies supplies novel and paired observations that enhance productivity and stimulate new and collaborative research. Third, the Core maintains a powerful modern database that provides protected access to data and analytic tools for investigators and staff. This central service promotes new studies while making existing ones more efficient. Fourth, Core services include the coordination of protocol approvals, staff credentialing, and record keeping required of all human studies. The above services and tasks are made exceedingly efficient by a centralized structure orchestrated by a seasoned and trained staff. The benefits unload time and effort for faculty and staff to pursue more directly relevant research goals, and simultaneously catalyze new projects and collaborations. This is apparent in the growth of human studies in the Core-Center, including those by new faculty and ongoing ones alike.