Ohio State Neuroscience Center Core

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Ohio State University (OSU) Neuroscience Center provides support for studies aimed at analysis and treatment of neurological disorders with an emphasis on animal models. The Center is a collaborative effort of 43 neuroscientists (25 NINDS funded) from OSU and Nationwide Children's Hospital. The majority of these PIs work on aspects of nervous system disorders with four major focus areas being motoneuron disease, neuromuscular disease, CNS and PNS injury, and brain tumors. These PIs span numerous departments, centers, and institutes at OSU that support basic and translational neuroscience research making the Center a nucleus of neuroscience activity on campus. Center priorities align with and can leverage the Neuroscience Signature Program at OSU, a multi-million dollar effort supporting Neuroscience as one of five growth areas on campus. In addition, the Center aligns with the newly granted Clinical and Translational Science Award to the OSU Medical Center. To support the development, characterization and analysis of nervous system disease models, this proposal supports 5 research Cores. Core A (Administrative) will oversee the OSU Neuroscience Center. Core B (Genetics) will support the development of transgenic/knockout mice and the use of zebrafish with an emphasis on traditional and novel genetic approaches. In addition this Core will support a Genome Manipulation Facility focusing on zinc-finger nuclease and BAC recombineering techniques for the generation of new animal models. Core C (CNS/PNS Injury and Rodent Behavior) will provide the equipment and technical expertise to generate injury models and to analyze behavioral deficits associated with these models. Core D (Physiology) will provide equipment and technical assistance for both electrophysiology and muscle physiology to analyze these models. Core E (Imaging) will support both Confocal and MRI imaging with reduced costs and technical assistance. Core F (Xenograft) will provide equipment and technical assistance to generate mouse models of brain tumors. These unique Cores will provide PIs with access to centralized equipment and technical expertise unavailable in any single lab, thus substantially enhancing neuroscience research on the OSU campus.