Build-out of an Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience Facility for Hispanic Health Disparities at UTEP

项目总结 这项提议的目标是获得资金，在新的跨学科研究中扩建现有的外壳空间。 最近在德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校(UTEP)校园内建造的IDRB大楼，并投入使用 根据其作为成像和行为神经科学(IBN)设施的拟议用途。这个设施将为 作为本地区教育和生物医学研究的中心，解决影响人们的健康问题 居住在美国(美国)-墨西哥边境地区，那里有主要的墨西哥裔西班牙裔 人口。拉美裔人生活在显著的健康差距中，缩小拉美裔健康差距是 对地区和国家医疗保健系统很重要，因为拉美裔人口是最大和增长最快的 美国UTEP的种族人口在其作为新兴研究机构的使命中具有战略意义 卓越地促进生物医学研究倡议和培训下一代生物医学研究人员， 大部分工作都集中在边境生物医学研究中心，该中心提供了核心设施 对UTEP调查人员的支持。在扩大能力和加快完成的战略倡议中 合作研究倡议，由德克萨斯州资助的跨学科研究大楼 拨款，最近在UTEP园区完成，拟议的设施将位于 在大楼的一楼。IBN设施将提供高容量行为测试和高吞吐量 利用高分辨率成像技术对脑部电路和肿瘤样本进行成像，提供综合分析 该平台显著推进了当前的UTEP生物医学研究基础设施。这个新设施是一个 这是我们地区首个此类项目，并将在多个UTEP中扩展与生物医学相关的跨学科研究 以及加强与我们当地的德克萨斯理工大学和Burrell Osteopathic Medical的合作 学校。长期目标是建立一个成像设施，作为跨学科和 垂直整合的研究，将通过1)促进发展而产生持续而强大的影响 临床前模型作为潜在翻译贡献的平台，以及2)发展跨学科 能够应对日益复杂和有影响力的调查领域的研究团队，从而定位 UTEP处于与拉美裔健康临床前模型相关的生物医学研究的前沿 差距。

PROJECT SUMMARY The goal of this proposal is to obtain funding to build-out existing shell space in the new interdisciplinary research building (IDRB) recently constructed on the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) campus, and commission it according to its proposed usage as an Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience (IBN) Facility. This facility will serve as a focal point in our region for education and biomedical research that addresses health issues affecting people living on the United States (U.S.)-Mexico border region, which has a predominant Mexican-origin Hispanic population. Hispanic persons live with marked health disparities, and reducing Hispanic health disparities is important to regional and national healthcare systems as Hispanic persons are the largest and fastest growing ethnic demographic in the U.S. UTEP has been strategic in its mission as an Institution of Emerging Research Excellence to facilitate biomedical research initiatives and train the next generation of biomedical researchers, and much of this effort has centered on the Border Biomedical Research Center which has provided core facility support for UTEP investigators. In a strategic initiative to expand the capacity for and accelerate the completion of collaborative research initiatives, an Interdisciplinary Research Building, funded with state of Texas appropriated funds, has recently been completed on the UTEP campus and the proposed facility will be located on the first floor of the building. The IBN Facility will provide high-capacity behavioral tests and high-throughput imaging with high-resolution imaging of brain circuits and tumor samples to provide an integrated analytical platform that significantly advances the current UTEP biomedical research infrastructure. This new facility is a first of its kind in our region and will expand biomedical-related interdisciplinary research across multiple UTEP Colleges as well as strengthen collaborations with our local Texas Tech and Burrell Osteopathic Medical Schools. The long-term goal is to establish an Imaging Facility that serves as a nexus for interdisciplinary and vertically-integrated research, that will exert a sustained and powerful influence by 1) facilitating the development of pre-clinical models as platforms for potential translational contributions, and 2) developing interdisciplinary research teams that can address increasingly complex and impactful investigative areas, thereby positioning UTEP at the leading edge of biomedical research associated with pre-clinical models of Hispanic health disparities.