NICHD-sponsored Resources

Through its various Divisions, Centers, and Branches, the NICHD supports and maintains a number of valuable research projects and networks that are useful to neuro-scientists and researchers. Some of these resources include:

• Gallus Expression in Situ Hybridization Analysis (GEISHA)
  GEISHA is an online repository for chicken in situ hybridization information. This site presents whole mount in situ hybridization images and corresponding probe and genomic information for genes expressed in chicken embryos in Hamburger Hamilton stages 1-25 (0.5-5 days).
  
  
• Gene Expression Database (GXD)
  GXD collects and integrates the gene expression information in the Mouse Genome Informatics database.
  
  
• Gene Regulation in Time and Space (GRiTS)
  GRiTS is continually developing new and innovative bioinformatics tools designed for the discovery of the genetic regulatory networks at work in the developing cerebellum. GRiTS enables researchers to explore various gene expression datasets and to compare the results of these explorations across different genetic models. The end result is to identify sets of genes based on expression patterns and identify relationships between genes and cellular processes during development.
  
  
• Jackson Laboratories Cytogenetics Models Resource
  This resource maintains and distributes chromosome aberration stocks, which provide primarily mouse models for Down syndrome research.
  
  
• Jackson Laboratories Neural Tube Defects Resource
  This resource maintains and distributes models for research on neural tube defects.
  
  
• NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders
  This resource (Central Site: University of Maryland, Baltimore; collaborative site: University of Miami) seeks to advance the research of developmental disorders. The objective of this human tissue repository is to systematically collect, store, and distribute brain and other tissues for research dedicated to the improved understanding, care, and treatment of individuals with developmental disabilities.
  
  
• Pediatric Brain Templates
  The Imaging Research Center at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has collected brain imaging data from a large population of normal, healthy children. These data have been used to construct pediatric brain templates, which can be used within statistical parametric mapping for spatial normalization, tissue segmentation and visualization of imaging study results. The data has been processed and compiled in various ways to accommodate a wide range of possible research approaches. The templates are made available free of charge to all interested parties for research purposes only.
  
  
• Sea Urchin Genome Database (SpBase)
  SpBase is designed to present the results of the genome sequencing project for the purple sea urchin. The sequences and annotations emerging from this effort are organized in a database that provides the research community access to those data not normally presented through National Center for Biotechnology Information and other large databases.
  
  
• Xenbase: Xenopus Biology and Genomics Resource
  Xenbase is an online resource for information about Xenopus biology, genomics, and the research community using this model organism.
  
  

Trans-NIH Sponsored Resources

In addition, to resources primarily supported by NICHD, the NICHD contributes to other NIH resources related to the neurosciences. These include:

• BECON: The Bioengineering Consortium
  
  
• Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN)
  The Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) is a geographically distributed virtual community of shared resources offering tremendous potential to advance the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
  
  
• Bioengineering and Information Science Technology Initiative (BISTI)
  The focus of biomedical computing activities at the NIH is the BISTI Consortium (BISTIC), which consists of senior-level representatives from each NIH Institute and Center, plus representatives from other federal agencies concerned with biocomputing. The BISTI site includes information about BISTI symposia and funding opportunities in bioinformatics.
  
  
• Deltagen and Lexicon Knockout Mice and Phenotypic Data Resource
  The NIH has contracted with Deltagen Inc., and Lexicon Genetics Inc., to provide the agency and its scientific partners with access to 251 lines of knockout mice that have been extensively characterized.
  
  
• International HapMap Project
  The elucidation of the entire human genome has made possible this current effort to develop a haplotype map of the human genome. The haplotype map, or "HapMap," will be a tool that will allow researchers to find genes and genetic variations that affect health and disease.
  
  
• Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP)
  KOMP is a trans-NIH initiative that aims to generate a comprehensive and public resource comprised of mice containing a null mutation in every gene in the mouse genome.
  
  
• Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC)
  The MGC provides full-length, open reading frame clones for human and mouse genes, which are available for distribution to the scientific community.
  
  
• Model Organisms for Biomedical Research
  This Web site provides information about national and international activities and major resources that are being developed to facilitate biomedical research using animal models, such as Drosophila, zebrafish, Xenopus, mouse, and rat.
  
  
• MRI Study of Normal Brain Development
  This multi-site longitudinal study uses technologies (e.g., anatomical MRI, diffusion-tensor imaging [DTI], and magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS]) to map pediatric brain development. More than 500 children, ranging from infancy to young adulthood were enrolled in the study. Clinical/behavioral assessment data and raw and volumetric brain MR data are available for download to researchers.
  
  
• National Gene Vector Laboratories (NGVL)
  The NGVL are composed of an interactive group of academic production and pharm/tox labs whose primary goal is to provide clinical grade vectors for phase I/II gene therapy clinical trials and to provide support for relevant pharmacology/toxicology data leading up to clinical gene transfer protocols.
  
  
• Research Methods for Cognitive Rehabilitation
  This collaborative effort of investigators at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute and the University of Pennsylvania seeks to synthesize and disseminate tools necessary to refine promising treatments for cognitive impairment, understand mechanisms of action, and gather preliminary data about the clinical impact to support larger efficacy trials.
  
  
• Xenopus Gene Collection (XGC)
  The XGC supports the production of cDNA libraries, clones, and sequences to provide a set of full-length, open reading frame sequences and cDNA clones of expressed genes for Xenopus. All resources are publicly available for the biomedical scientific community.
  
  
• Zebrafish Gene Collection (ZGC)
  The ZGC supports the production of cDNA libraries, clones, and sequences to provide a set of full-length, open reading frame sequences and cDNA clones of expressed genes for zebrafish. All resources are publicly available for the biomedical scientific community.
  
  

Other Resources

Neuroscience researchers and other scientists may find the following informational resources helpful.

• Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (CRISP)
  CRISP provides a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions.
  
  
• NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research
  The Blueprint is a framework to enhance cooperative activities among 15 NIH Institutes and Centers that support research on the nervous system. By pooling resources and expertise, the Blueprint can take advantage of economies of scale, confront challenges too large for any single Institute or Center, and develop research tools and infrastructure that will serve the entire neuroscience community.
  
  
• NIH Roadmap
  Developed with input from meetings with more than 300 nationally recognized leaders in academia, industry, government, and the public, the NIH Roadmap provides a framework of the priorities NIH as a whole must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio. The NIH Roadmap identifies the most compelling opportunities in three main areas: new pathways to discovery, research teams of the future, and re-engineering the clinical research enterprise.
  
  
• Neuroscience@NIH
  This inter-Institute effort seeks to convey, on an NIH-wide basis, research being conducted and supported in the neurosciences.