SUPPORT FOR MENTAL RETARDATION RESEARCH CENTER

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's description) The Rose F. Kennedy Center for Research in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities is commencing its 36th year as the Center for Excellence in basic and clinical research involving the nervous system and the treatment of disabilities in children. The Center was founded on the principal that the strength of the overall research program is dependent on the excellence of individual investigators, on their ability to develop and maintain collaborative programs, and on the continued effort to translate findings from basic science into clinical applications and ultimately therapeutic interventions. The Center currently supports more than 53 individual NIH-funded research projects as well as several program projects and training grants involving 56 faculty from seven departments at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Research programs are focussed in five main areas: 1) normal and abnormal neural development; 2) chemical and electrical coupling of neurons; 3) systems and cognitive neuroscience; 4) neurobehavioral assessment of development; and 5) pathobiology of developmental and degenerative disorders. Clinical facilities include the Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), which treats more than 9,000 children and their families from the largely under-served populations of the Bronx. At the heart of the Kennedy Center are nine core facilities to support research and clinical activities. Over its history, the Center has been directed by a series of directors C each of whom has further developed and refined the research mission of the Center. Dr. Donald Faber assumed the directorship of the Center in November of 1999. Dr. Joseph Arezzo continues as the Associate Director. During the current funding period, a number of changes have occurred within the Center, including changes in Center investigators, core services, as well as focus (to some degree) of the Center. The number of funding projects being supported by Center facilities, the dollar amount of these studies, and the number of research scientists has, for the most part, remained fairly stable.