"Core Support for Hearing Research"

描述(由申请人提供)：马萨诸塞州眼耳医院建议建立三个研究中心，以促进听力和耳聋的跨学科研究。研究中心由23名研究人员组成，他们都隶属于伊顿-皮博迪实验室(EPL)。他们包括临床医生和基础科学家，与哈佛医学院和麻省理工学院的研究生项目和系有学术联系。该研究基地涵盖了广泛的基础和应用研究项目，从外周力学到皮质处理，从体外系统到人类患者，从动物模型到神经网络。英超研究小组在设备、资源和科学专业知识共享的基础上，有着悠久的卓有成效的合作历史，该研究核心系统由80年代的S和90年代的S以及过去4年的P30项目拨款支持。每个中心都支持经验丰富的人员：1)配备、储存、维护和升级现有的共享研究设施；2)培训用户和/或提供这些设施的专家技术服务；3)提供必要的技术专长，以提高研究生产力，促进研究中心所代表的多个学科的不同研究方法的融合。这三个核心和每个核心的主要目标包括：1)工程核心，设计、建立、编程和维护数据采集系统、定制声学设备和刺激产生系统，并提供精密加工服务，为各种研究应用建立定制机械设备；2)成像核心，支持中心研究人员对数字图像采集和分析的需求，包括共焦显微镜、透射式电子显微镜、计算机辅助解剖重建、形态测量自动化、3-D重建/绘制和功能成像数据分析；3)组织学/外科核心，以维持现有的共用设施，并协助研究小组进行动物外科和组织学准备，包括光镜和电子显微镜；以及 核心中心管理 项目主管：查尔斯·利伯曼，博士。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Three Research Cores are proposed to facilitate interdisciplinary research into hearing and deafness at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The Research Center comprises 23 investigators, all affiliated with the Eaton-Peabody Laboratory (EPL). They include clinicians and basic scientists, with academic ties to graduate programs and departments at Harvard Medical School and MIT. The Research Base covers a wide range of basic and applied research projects from peripheral mechanics to cortical processing, from in vitro systems to human patients, from animal models to neural nets. The EPL research group has a long history of fruitful collaboration based on sharing of equipment, resources and scientific expertise via a system of research cores supported by a program project grant in the 80's and 90's, and by this P30 for the last 4 years. Each of the Cores supports highly experienced personnel to 1) staff, stock, maintain and upgrade existing shared research facilities; 2) train users and/or render expert technical services in these facilities; and 3) provide the necessary technical expertise to enhance research productivity and facilitate the fusion of different research approaches across the many disciplines represented in the Research Center. The three Cores and the major aims of each include 1) an Engineering Core to design, build, program and maintain data-acquisition systems, custom acoustical devices, and stimulus generation systems, and to provide a precision machining service to build custom mechanical devices for a wide variety of research applications; 2) an Imaging Core to support the needs of Center investigators for digital image-acquisition and analysis, including confocal microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, computer-aided anatomical reconstruction, automation of morphometry, 3-D reconstruction/rendering, and analysis of functional imaging data; and 3) a Histology/Surgery Core to maintain existing shared facilities and assist research teams in animal surgery and histological preparation for both light and electron microscopy; and Core Center Administration Program Director: Charles Liberman, Ph.D.