CORE--RESEARCH SERVICES

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The laboratories of the Core-Center are uniformly technologically sophisticated and automated. Further, the faculty are primarily engaged in cellular to behavioral neurophysiology, and utilize animal subjects as well as humans. These attributes form a common need for technical services across the Core Center. The Research Services Core provides two sets of key services, a Histology & Imaging Unit, and a Electronic & Mechanical Shp. Each will complement and enhance existing facilities now shared between other Centers and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy. This will also satisfy the incremental needs of our growing faculty. The Histology & Imaging Unit will provide tissue preparation, image analysis, and image reconstruction technologies. All investigators in the Core-Center that use animals have a regular need for histological services, and yet the need does not justify full-time commitments within our labs. A collective solution is ideal. An additional component of the Unit is an imaging facility. The essential elements include a wet darkroom as well as a digital darkroom and a series of sophisticated microscope/imaging systems based upon the NeuroLucida and Image-Pro applications. The Unit will provide comprehensive services to the faculty with the benefit of cooperate interchange with existing facilities. The Electronic and Mechanical Shop will support another set of essential services. All of our labs require equipment repair and maintenance over time, modifications dictated by experimental needs, and construction of electronic and mechanical on a semi-regular basis. We will enhance the Shop's capabilities and capacity, particularly in its electronic service facility that is now the weaker of the two. Additional facilities and staff are critical because of the recent expansion of our faculty, and the increased service required to support their new research programs and laboratories. The Units of the Research Services Core provide sophisticated services across the Core-Center that are best suited for its common and centralized structure. This Core will implement a high quality and accessible set of services to Core faculty that will enhance the productivity of our research and will stimulate interactions across laboratories. The attractive environment produced will in turn catalyze technological and scientific collaboration, and will attract new investigators to our labs and research goals.