Northwestern receives $17 million for functional genomic...( reas of expertise looking more closely...)

These follow-up studies will utilize Northwesterns expertise in circadian rhythms and the neuroendocrinology of stress and anxiety, Columbias expertise in learning and memory, Dukes expertise in the mechanisms of drug addiction and Iowas expertise in vision.

In addition to producing mice for study by the centers researchers, the center also will act as a national resource, distributing up to 50 new mouse models per year to the scientific community as well as providing rapid access to the analyses of the centers mice. The bioinformatics core will be based at Northwestern.

"Based on rapidly developing genomic and genetic tools, the mouse is becoming a unique model for understanding mammalian neurobiology," said Steven M. Hyman, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the institute awarding the grant for the new NIH center.

"This project will provide critically important opportunities to systematically identify genetic alterations that affect brain circuitry, and therefore behavior. This information will provide a much needed platform for the development of better animal models for serious disorders of the nervous system, such as schizophrenia, mood disorders and autism."

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Contact: Megan Fellman
fellman@northwestern.edu
847-491-3115
Northwestern University
16-Apr-2001