The cores of the Baylor College of Medicine Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center provide participating investigators access to expertise and techniques that are typically not available in individual laboratories and facilitate synergistic interactions between our clinicians, neurobiologists, geneticists, and cell and molecular biologists.
Administrative Core
The Administrative Core oversees the administration of funds awarded to the IDDRC, maintains a high-quality infrastructure to support the research projects, spurs collaborations amongst investigators at Baylor as well with investigators at other institutions, and helps organize community engagement.
- Director: Huda Zoghbi, Ph.D.
- Associate Director: David Nelson, Ph.D.
Clinical Translational Core
The BCM IDDRC Clinical Translational Core facilitates the bidirectional translation of research observations into patient-oriented studies. The CTC aims to help IDDRC Investigators to validate the mechanisms underlying IDD, develop new biomarkers and approaches for their diagnosis, and evaluate therapies in robustly conducted proof-of-concept clinical studies. The CTC includes three overlapping entities - Clinical Evaluation Unit, Biorepository Unit, and Clinical Trials Unit.
- Director: Sandesh C. Sreenath Nagamani, M.D.
Neurobehavioral Core
The BCM IDDRC Neurobehavioral Core provides investigators at Baylor College of Medicine with expert consultation, access and training on many behavioral assays. We have two core facilities available, one located in the Transgenic Mouse Facility (TMF) and one in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) animal facility.
- Director: Surabi Veeraragavan, Ph.D.
Neurovisualization Core
The Neurovisualization Core provides training, equipment, expertise, and analytical support for investigating how brain structure is altered in IDD, using tissues from animal models and human samples. The focus includes molecules, cells, and neural circuits. There are three main areas of expertise: Neuropathology, RNA In Situ Hybridization (ISH), and Microscopy, including confocal microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and two-photon imaging.
- Director of Neuropathology : Roy V. Sillitoe, Ph.D.
- Director of RNA In Situ Hybridization: Cecilia Ljundberg, Ph.D.
- Director of Microscopy: Dinghui Yu, Ph.D.
Neuroconnectivity Core
The main purpose of the IDDRC Neuroconnectivity Core is to provide Baylor College of Medicine and IDDRC investigators access to the technology and reagents to perform neurotropic viral expression, optogenetic manipulation, and in vivo electrophysiological stimulation/recordings in mammalian nervous tissue.
- Core Director: Benjamin Arenkiel, Ph.D.
- Director of Optogenetics and Viral Design/Expression: Joshua Ortiz, Ph.D.
- Director of In Vivo Neurophysiology: Jianrong Tang, Ph.D.