Alteration and Renovation

Kansas State University, Manhattan KS

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY The Alteration and Renovation (A&R) plans will modernize and expand the functionality of the current Behavioral Neuroscience (BN) Core facility, house within the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kansas State University (KSU). This is the only dedicated BN core in Psychology in the State of Kansas. The BN core currently services approximately 30 users including current faculty and their research teams. The A&R will promote expansion of this core to serve approximately 50 users. The A&R of the BN core will directly support two of the primary projects (Cain and Pickens), and will support the pilot grant, post-doctoral training, and scientific exchange network (SEN) programs, and the current community of users that includes the PI/PD. The modernization of the facility will promote the growth of BN into exciting and innovative research areas that incorporate state-of-the-art techniques, including a range of biochemical assays, fluorescent microscopy, stereotaxic surgical techniques such as cannula implants, Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs), and optogenetics. The overarching goal of the renovations is to promote the ability of C-NAP researchers to compete for extramural funding by incorporating technologies to answer the challenging questions facing modern neuroscience researchers. The primary areas for renovation are the surgery suite, wet laboratories, and cage wash facilities. The surgery suite will be modernized to upgrade our capabilities to perform manipulations of targeted brain regions (e.g., DREADDs, viruses, and optogenetics implants). The wet laboratories and microscopy laboratory will be expanded with the addition of a new perfusion station for brain tissue removal, upgrades to the existing laboratory, and new equipment, such as an alcohol analyzer for measuring blood ethanol level, and two new microscopes for brain tissue assays (a dissection microscope and fluorescent microscope). The cage wash is a critical element for growth of our facility as we do not currently have any in-house cage washing capabilities, but instead rely on sending our cages to the veterinary school?s facility. We will upgrade the current cage wash room and adjacent clean cage storage room with a pass-through cabinet style washer so that we can wash all of our cages in-house. Overall, the renovations will dramatically improve the functionality of our existing BN core and will provide strong support for the growth of research central to the C-NAP mission.