Resources

Summary of Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources

• Addiction Connectome Core (https://med.umn.edu/center-neural-circuits-addiction/addiction-core) bridges the translational gap between the wealth of knowledge gathered through invasive methods and the relatively sparse neuroimaging data on human drug addiction by building a translational team that integrates multimodal data collected in mice and monkeys.

• Center for Cerebellar Network Structure/Function in Health and Disease. The multi-disciplinary faculty of this Center uses invasive and non-invasive neurotechnologies that span the microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic scales. The Center aims to leverage the existing expertise and collaborative potential in a concerted effort to understand the role of the cerebellum in the regulation of motor and non-motor function in health and disease.

• Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR). CMRR is a 100,000 sq ft building that houses an array of high-field magnets along with associated research and training support and office space. This includes over 5000 sq. ft. of laboratory space for chemistry, histology, and physiology research, and another 5000 sq. ft. for animal housing.

• Center for Neuroengineering (CNE) fosters new neuroengineering collaborations through a series of events and supports neuroengineering faculty and student outreach. CNE organizes a weekly seminar series with an external speaker once a month and the Annual Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium, a two-day conference that attracts 450 attendees including external speakers, industry representatives, government representatives, and over 100 students and postdocs. CNE also provides travel grants that may supplement the T32 training grant.

• Center for Neurodegenerative Disease. The overarching goal of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease is to bring together researchers that have synergistic strengths in basic movement disorder research and clinical neurosciences. In addition, these researchers collaborate with several different groups including the NINDS Institutional Center Core grant, the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center, and the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Center.

• Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). CTSI supports all stages of the research process, providing research and regulatory support, specialized facilities, and analytical services. CTSI is supported through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program, grant UL1TR002494.

• College of Science and Engineering (CSE) has 12 academic departments and oversees more than a dozen research centers and institutes that bring scholars from diverse disciplines together for research collaboration.

• Department of Biomedical Engineering (https://cse.umn.edu/bme) is a part of the College of Science and Engineering that conducts innovative research, offers high-quality education, and has strong connections to the thriving Twin Cities medical device industry.

• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (https://cse.umn.edu/ece) consistently ranks among the top 20 of all electrical and computer engineering programs in the country. Our faculty engage in research that is spearheading developments in technology that impact our world and the lives we lead. There are 7 key areas of research in ECE: biomedical and biological computational methods, devices, and systems; communications, signal processing, and networking; computer engineering, VLSI, and circuits; energy systems, and power electronics; fields, photonics, and magnetics; micro and nano structures; systems and control.

• Department of Neuroscience (https://med.umn.edu/neuroscience) is committed to providing excellence in research, education, and public service for over 20 years. Neuroscience faculty have a wide range of interests and expertise and receive over $12,000,000 in external funding annually. Research investigations range from molecular to systems neuroscience.

• Department of Radiology (https://med.umn.edu/radiology) continuously improves the health of the people of Minnesota and beyond, through innovative, high quality and effective patient care, education, and research. They have been a leader for more than 75 years in the field of imaging - providing excellent education, innovative research, and exceptional patient care.

• Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center (Bakken MDC), a part of IEM, drives medical device research by training the next generation of innovators and supporting all aspects of medical device innovation at UMN. Bakken MDC provides extensive prototyping equipment, support staff, and multiple connections with the UMN Medical Center and several industry groups throughout the Twin Cities.

• Faculty Mentor Training (https://ctsi.umn.edu/training/mentors/mentor-training). Learn how to advance the next generation of health researchers by becoming an effective research mentor.

• Institute for Child and Adolescent Brain Health (ICABH) is a new UMN institute that is dedicated to fostering healthy brain function in children and adolescents in order to promote brain health across the lifespan. It promotes collaborations that incorporate basic research, neuroimaging, pre-clinical research, clinical trials, and clinical care.

• Institute for Engineering and Medicine (IEM) aims to drive innovation by fostering multidisciplinary research, education, and collaboration with faculty from the University of Minnesota's health sciences departments and College of Science & Engineering and the regional medical technology industry. For this program, IEM will provide training in grant writing and opportunities for fellows to present their research and engage in outreach with students from communities under-represented in STEM fields.

• Institute for Health Informatics (healthinformatics.umn.edu) educates students and fosters research in the fields of biomedical and health informatics. This institute has staff that can support machine learning informatics and provides funding for informatics in health applications that would be synergistic with our program.

• The Institute for Math and its Applications (IMA) addresses scientific and technological challenges by connecting scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to develop new mathematics within a collaborative environment. Through this center, we are able to host workshops on mathematics that are used in image processing.

• Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN) was established in 2007 as a University-wide presidential initiative to promote the transfer of discoveries in the basic neurosciences to clinical practice. ITN has provided matching funds to this proposal to promote diversity and to support cohort development.

• Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB). This newly-founded institute focuses on the early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood and adolescence. The institute studies disorders such as autism, ADHD, cognitive delays, and substance abuse, and will study how the brain grows and develops during early childhood and adolescence.

• MIN-Corps (mincorps.umn.edu) is the NSF I-Corps site at UMN. It provides commercialization education and coaching programs that help STEM students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty develop the skills required to translate their innovations into products and services with real-world impact.

• Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) provides high speed computing resources and data storage solutions. This center provides computational support needed for high throughput analysis of imaging data.

• MnDRIVE Brain Conditions (mndrive.umn.edu/brain) is one aspect of the MnDRIVE partnership between UMN and the State of Minnesota that, among other things, provides research grants to postdoctoral researchers who are interested in studying neuroimaging and neuromodulation to treat brain conditions such as Parkinson’s, stroke, epilepsy and mental illness. The initiative includes partnerships with industries to bring neuromodulation innovations to market.

• MnDRIVE Optogenetics Core (umn.edu/mndriveoptogeneticscore) provides cost-effective solutions and assistance for implementing cutting-edge optogenetic technology in neuroscience research focused on rodents. Supported by the MnDRIVE Brain Conditions program (see above), the core offers its services and equipment at no charge to UMN researchers. The facility has ~1200 sq. ft. of space that houses equipment for conducting small animal surgery, optogenetics, and basic behavioral testing.

• MnDRIVE Robotics, Sensors and Advanced Manufacturing (mndrive.umn.edu/robotics), also a part of the MnDRIVE program, focuses on developing sensors, robotics and automation, and associated manufacturing for numerous applications. These could include MR-compatible electrodes and multi-modal recording technologies that will support the proposed training program.

• Office for Equity and Diversity (https://diversity.umn.edu/) increase access to higher education by advocating for members of our community and emphasizing the importance of diversity in promoting learning and development at the University of Minnesota. Our commitment to equity and diversity is the shared responsibility of students, staff, and faculty, and must be supported and guided by all levels of leadership.

• Optical Imaging and Brain Science Medical Discovery Team (https://med.umn.edu/brain-science) is located within CMRR. This program is currently comprised of 3 new laboratories (Kara, Kerlin, and Smith) and will expand to 5-6 laboratories by 2022. MDT utilizes and develops multi-photon imaging and molecular genetics to target and monitor specific neuronal populations and cellular processes in animal models.

• The University Imaging Centers (UIC) covers over 11,000 sq.ft. of resources in three primary sites. The network of facilities offers instrumentation and support for light and electron microscopy, multiplex ion beam imaging, tissue clearing, in-vivo imaging from subcellular to whole animals, image analysis and visualization, slide scanning, and 3D printing. As a Nikon Center of Excellence, the UIC makes cutting-edge imaging tools accessible to the local scientific community and serves as a platform for the free exchange of ideas, methodologies, and technologies.

Photo Courtesy: VONDELINDE