ABOUT the SBC
WSBC Organization.
Dr. Qian-Quan Sun, professor of
Zoology and Physiology, and
UW Neuroscience Program, is the principle investigator (PI) and director of the WSBC. The WSBC is comprised
of Administration Core (AC), Integrated Microscopy Core (IMcore) and four interrelated
research projects. As a whole, the SBC will support four new junior investigators
and four future faculty hires that are committed to the WSBC, during the five years
of the COBRE funding.
Mission
The primary mission of the WSBC is to foster and conduct high-quality scientific research
that advances the understanding of our sensory systems and disorders related to them.
A major role of the center is to support and mentor the development of junior investigators
of sensory system function and dysfunction.
The five-year goals of the WSBC are:
- Establish a multi-disciplinary Center that brings together investigators with expertise
in diverse areas of sensory neuroscience and experimental methodology, and fosters
collaborations to address key issues in sensory system function and dysfunction.
- Support projects of junior investigators by providing strong mentoring and guidance
to help them obtain independent funding and professional success. In addition to research,
investigators will be mentored on other metrics that are evaluated in Tenure and Promotion.
- Grow the SBC in both size and scope through the recruitment of new faculty, and fostering
multi-disciplinary research among current UW faculty, respectively.
- Build the required research infrastructure by expanding the Microscopy Core Facility.
- Advance our understanding of the development and function of sensory systems and their
dysfunctions.
Why Sensory Biology?
Our sensory systems enable us to process stimuli within the world around us. Disruptions
in sensory processing and integration may underlie visual learning disorders, chronic
pain, obesity, and inappropriate, non-social behaviors (Ayres 1977; Jasinska, Stein
et al. 2013; Mifflin and Kerr 2013). It is estimated that more than 46 million people
in the United States suffer from impaired sensory systems (from the NIH/NIDCD website).
Inability to conduct normal cognitive tasks is responsible for the core symptoms in
mental and psychiatric diseases such as depression and schizophrenia. Cognitive activity
roots in perceptions. All sensory modalities are coupled with brain regions that are
involved in mental and psychiatric disorders, and most are intimately related to the
affective and higher order functions that these regions subserve. Sensory system may
therefore be ideal windows into the structural and functional integrity of the neural
mechanisms that underlie psychiatric disease-related cognitive and emotional problems.
The Wyoming Sensory Biology COBRE (WSBC) will address basic and translational research
questions that are tied to the functional organization, development, and motor-integration
of sensory systems that underlie adaptive behaviors and help elucidate the causes
of maladaptive behaviors (e.g. pain and epilepsy).
