Neuroengineering Core Core Facilities for Analysis of Neural Circuit Structure a

这一创新的核心实现了一个独特的概念。在这笔P30基金的支持下，我们已经能够为我们整个社区提供一位杰出的工程师-神经学家(Edward Soucy博士，博士；见下文人员)的专业知识。他与另一位工程师、神经学家(乔尔·格林伍德博士，博士，大学基金资助)一起工作，例行公事地解决似乎无法克服的工程问题--包括设计和制造仪器、电子学、数据采集和分析软件以及成像。Soucy为专业项目设计和构建新颖的系统。一个好处是量身定做的解决方案具有成本效益，因为商业设备的成本通常来自于需要使它们适用于广泛的实验。这种成本效益超出了NIH的资金范围。我们估计，在过去4年中，通过建造而不是购买设备实现的节省总额超过300万美元。第二个好处是，为一组人设计的解决方案通常会迅速应用到其他组--例如，这里的许多实验室都采用了廉价的LED光源和双光子显微镜。最后一个好处是，对年轻的神经科学家进行必要的教育和培训。在某些情况下，Soucy会培训学生和博士后使用定制的仪器。在其他情况下，他指导设计和制造设备的学生和博士后。他帮助年轻科学家用LabVIEW和MatLab编程。他已经解决的一系列问题，他设计和制造的设备，以及由此产生的出版物，现在都记录在这份更新资金的提案中。对NINDS赠款获得者和其他H/C神经科学家的影响很难夸大，也不可能被取代。 神经工程核心使神经科学家能够克服他们最具挑战性的技术和工程障碍。通过以成本效益的方式使用一名有才华的员工工程师和为训练有素的用户提供多样化的制造设施，神经工程核心将有助于产生有价值的基础神经科学研究，并推动一种新的方法来克服科学发现的技术障碍，最终解决人类健康的根本问题。

This innovative core implements a unique concept. With support from this P30 grant, we have been able to offer the expertise of a brilliant engineer-neuroscientist (Edward Soucy, PhD; see Personnel below) to our entire community. Working with another engineer-neuroscientist (Joel Greenwood, PhD, supported from University funds), he routinely solves what appear to be insuperable engineering problems-including designing and fabricating instrumentation, electronics, software for data acquisition and analysis, and imaging. Soucy designs and builds novel systems for specialized projects. One benefit is tailor-made solutions that are cost-effective, because the expense of commercial devices often comes from the need to make them applicable to a wide range of experiments. This cost-effectiveness stretches NIH dollars. We estimate that the savings realized from building rather than buying equipment total more than $3,000,000 over that past 4 years. A second benefit is that solutions engineered for one group often are applied rapidly to other groups-many labs here have adopted inexpensive LED light sources and two-photon microscopes, for example. The final benefit is that essential education and training for young neuroscientists. In some cases, Soucy trains students and postdocs to use custom-built instrumentation. In other cases, he guides students and postdocs who are designing and fabricating devices. He assists young scientists programming in LabView and Matlab. The array of the problems he has solved, the equipment he has designed and built, and the publications that have resulted, are now documented in this proposal for renewed funding. The impact on NINDS grant-holders and other H/C neuroscientists is difficult to overstate and impossible to replace. The Neuroengineering Core enables neuroscientists to surmount their most challenging technological and engineering obstacles. By the cost-effective use of a talented staff engineer and diverse fabrication facilities for trained users, the Neuroengineering Core will contribute to the generation of valuable basic neuroscience research and promote a novel approach to surmounting technological obstacles to scientific discovery, ultimately to address fundamental issues of human health.