Investigator Development Core

Investigator Development Core Summary The previous 50 years have seen a revolution in the conceptual approaches and scientific tools to investigate the brain and behavior. This has led to explosive growth in our knowledge and understanding of the brain, increased clinical applications for that knowledge, and the growth of neuroscience as a discipline. Our expanding knowledge is also broadening the scope of the field of neuroscience and spinning off exciting new disciplines such as neuroethics, social neuroscience, neuroimmunology, and neuromicrobiology. Continued progress in growing our knowledge about the brain and establishing Delaware as an important contributor to that progress requires expanding the state’s pool of neuroscience investigators who can lead creative research programs and be competitive for independent grants. The mission of our Investigator Development (ID) Core is to expand the capacity of the universities in our Delaware Neuroscience Center to support neuroscience research by preparing a cadre of investigators competitive for NIH Research Project Grants and other funding for neuroscience research at multiple scales, from human subjects to rodent and invertebrate models. Our Neuroscience Center will carryout its mission by: 1) Establishing a competitive pilot grant program that will allow early stage researchers to generate preliminary data to support competitive grant proposals related to neuroscience; 2) Fostering the productivity, advancement, and retention of neuroscience researchers by providing a robust professional development infrastructure to support publication of peer-reviewed articles, submission of grant proposals, and development of strong professional networks; 3) Establish a framework for planning and preparation of multi-investigator R01 and program project grants. We will leverage PI Harrington’s experience supporting the maturation of early stage faculty through directing phase I and II of our COBRE Center, the institutional connections and mentoring infrastructure that was developed as part of those awards, and the network of support for biomedical researchers created by the IDeA-funded programs INBRE, CTR and COBREs. This Core will develop both early stage investigators with the pilot grant program and established investigators by helping them connect with potential collaborators and expand the scope of their research.