January 17-18, 2002

NOTICE OF INTENT  Approval to Establish a Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience; The University of Montana-Missoula

THAT: The Board of Regents of Higher Education authorizes The University of Montana to establish a Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience to advance the mission of the Montana University System by increasing knowledge and improving public health through research, training, and the dissemination of information on the functioning of the central nervous system and molecular mechanisms.

 

EXPLANATION: The proposed Center will reside within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences. The University of Montana-Missoula aims to establish national prominence for its research and training programs in the neurosciences. The Center will create an organized structure linking faculty from several departments and disciplines and enhance their efforts to develop nationally-competitive research and training programs in structural and functional neuroscience. Disciplines include biochemistry, chemistry, cellular and molecular biology, and pharmacology.

The Center's primary research mission will advance understanding of the central nervous system functions at the molecular level and how these functions become altered in injury and disease. The Center will provide an environment that not only will enhance the quality of ongoing research projects, but also will meet a critical need to recruit nationally-competitive faculty scientists. Faculty associated with the Center will take the lead in integrating the neurosciences into both the undergraduate and graduate curriculum.

Funding for the Center will come from a five-year NIH Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Award, the NSF-EPSCoR program, the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology, and the Research and Development Office of The University of Montana. Individual faculty research projects and additional program grants will also fund the project. No new State of Montana resources will be sought to fund the operation of the Center.

The completed signature page resides on file at the President's Office, The University of Montana-Missoula.