Research Cores Initiative helps replace workhorses and enhance cores services across campus
Twelve projects, ranging from keyboard instruments and equipment needed to rescue and preserve deteriorating films to upgraded fluorescent microscopes for high resolution imaging of cells and their surfaces, have been chosen for funding through the second round of the Research Core Revitalization Program (RCRP).
These projects were among 23 proposals submitted from four schools/colleges and three centers across campus.
Cores are unique spaces where researchers are exposed to new ideas, instrumentation, and services and where they can consult with technical experts to advance their research programs.
“Shared instruments, equipment and other resources play a critical role in the UW–Madison research enterprise and typically have a limited lifespan,” explains Ryan Pingel, interim director of the Office of Research Cores. “Although essential and highly used, these critical resources also may not be eligible or competitive for federal and other external grant programs targeting new capabilities and technologies. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education has sponsored the RCRP to help fill some of those funding gaps.”
“The great interest in and diverse responses to the RCRP demonstrates that our campus cores are indispensable for supporting collaborative and cutting-edge research. Although cores are common in the biological sciences, they are also critical to other disciplines, including the physical sciences, arts & humanities, and social sciences,” says Cynthia Czajkowkski, associate vice chancellor for research in the biological sciences. “We know that researchers across campus depend on our cores – in fact, some core facilities are not just useful, but essential – and reinvestment in these capabilities ensures continuity and productivity of our research enterprise.“
The RCRP was launched in fall 2019 and was a highly successful competition. Seventeen projects across six schools and colleges were awarded funding in round one.
The RCRP is supported by an investment from the OVCRGE and with support from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Each award is the range of up to $500,000 for direct costs.
To learn more about the projects (listed below) that have been chose in round two, visit https://research.wisc.edu/funding/research-core-revitalization-program-2/.
Acquisition of Innovive Ventilated Racks
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Rich Halberg, associate professor of medicine and oncology
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Jody Peter, director of research services for Biomedical Research Model Services
CORE:
Biomedical Research Model Services Rodent Breeding Core and Research Services
Acquisition of nCounter MAX System for Multiplex In Situ Analysis of Nucleic Acids and Proteins
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Andreas Friedl, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Karla Esbona, scientist III and core facility manager for the Translational Research
Initiatives in Pathology (TRIP) Laboratory
CORE:
Translational Research Initiatives in Pathology (TRIP) Laboratory
AV Data Core Infrastructure Upgrade for Audiovisual Scanning and Preservation
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Eric Hoyt, professor of communication arts and director of the AV Data Core, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, and the Media History Digital Library
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Peter Sengstock, director of media services for the Department of Communication Arts
CORE:
AV Data Core
Next Generation MRI Acquisition at the Lane Neuroimaging Lab
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Rasmus Birn, associate professor of psychiatry and medical physics
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Ned Kalin, professor of psychiatry
Core:
Lane Neuroimaging Lab
Replacement and Upgrade of Two Aging Instruments for Carbon and Nitrogen Quantification and Isotopic Analysis of Soil, Plant and Animal Materials
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Zac Freedman, assistant professor of soil microbiology
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Thea Whitman, associate professor of soil science
CORE:
Environmental Gas Flux, Biogeochemistry, and Stable Isotope Analytical and Teaching Laboratory
Replacement and Upgrade for Workhorse GCMS in the Chemistry Instrument Center for Characterization of Small Molecule Synthesis Products and Side Products
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
John Berry, professor of chemistry
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Martha Vestling, director of mass spectrometry in chemistry
CORE:
Paul Bender Chemistry Instrument Center
Replacement of the Social Science Computing Cooperative’s HPC Cluster with a Multi-purpose SLURM Cluster
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Eric Grodsky, professor of sociology
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Andrew Arnold, director of the Social Science Computing Cooperative
CORE:
Social Science Computing Cooperative
Replacement of Transmission Electron Microscopy Elemental Analysis Capability in the Nanoscale Imaging and Analysis Center
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Paul Voyles, professor of materials science and engineering
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Jerry Hunter, director of the Wisconsin Centers for Nanoscale Technology
CORE:
Nanoscale Imaging and Analysis Center
Replacement of Workhorse Musical Keyboard Instruments for Research and Performance
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Martha Fischer, professor of piano
CORE:
Keyboard Arts Research Core
Revitalization of Workhorse Fluorescence Microscopes for High-Speed and High-Resolution Imaging
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Matthew Merrins, associate professor of medicine and scientific director of the UW–Madison Optical Imaging Core
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Lance Rodenkirch, managing director of the UW–Madison Optical Imaging Core
CORE:
UW–Madison Optical Imaging Core
Updating Nanofabrication Lithography Support Systems for Improved Patterning to Facilitate Medical Device, Quantum Device and Nanomaterials Research
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Aviad Hai, assistant professor of biomedical engineering
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Daniel Christensen, lab manager of the Nanoscale Fabrication Center
CORE:
Nanoscale Fabrication Center
Waisman IDD Models Core Confocal Renewal
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
John Svaren, professor of comparative biosciences, affiliate at the Waisman Center and director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Models Core
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Xinyu Zhao, professor of neuroscience, co-director of the IDD Models Core and director of the Rodent Models subcore
CORE:
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Models Core
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By Natasha Kassulke, natasha.kassulke@wisc.edu