Recognition of IDD Research at a national level

University of Rochester Receives Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) Award

The University of Rochester has been awarded an Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). This recognition marks a significant milestone for the university, as it becomes one of 14 institutions to receive this honour and one of only 10 with the "trifecta" of NIH awards related to IDD.

The IDDRC will be housed within the university's Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, under the leadership of John Foxe, Ph.D., the director of the IDDRC and the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience. The centre will collaborate closely with the Medical Center's Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Child and Adult Neurology, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health and Wellness, and the Complex Care Center clinical programs.

The IDDRC has established four primary research cores: Human Clinical Phenotyping and Recruitment, Translational Neuroimaging and Neurophysiology, Cell and Molecular Imaging, and Animal Behavior and Neurophysiology. Leona Oakes, Ph.D. and Alexander Paciorkowski, M.D., Deborah Cory-Slechta, Ph.D. and Krishnan Padmanabhan, Ph.D., Ania Majewska, Ph.D., and Ed Freedman, Ph.D. and Jianhui Zhong, Ph.D. will serve as the directors of these cores respectively.

The Human Clinical Phenotyping and Recruitment core will be led by Oakes and Paciorkowski, focusing on clinical research in the recently opened Golisano Behavioral Health and Wellness Building. Tom O'Connor, Ph.D. will coordinate the Parental Stress and Early Life Exposure as Determinants of Brain Development and Behavior focus area within the IDDRC.

The Translational Neuroimaging and Neurophysiology core, directed by Freedman and Zhong, will provide investigators with access to advanced biostatistics support, the neuroimaging capabilities of the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging and Neurophysiology (CABIN), and the clinical resources of the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Neurodevelopmental Assessment Suite and the Clinical Research Center in the Clinical & Translational Science Institute.

The Cell and Molecular Imaging core, led by Majewska, will focus on imaging techniques to study cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. The Animal Behavior and Neurophysiology core, directed by Cory-Slechta and Padmanabhan, will use animal models to investigate the neurological basis of IDD.

Susan Hyman, M.D. will coordinate the Autism Spectrum Disorders focus area, while Heather Adams, Ph.D. will oversee the Rare and Orphaned Diseases of Neurodevelopment focus area. Edmund Lalor, Ph.D. will coordinate the Sensory Motor and Multisensory Processing focus area.

The ultimate goal of the IDDRC is to harness these resources to change the lives of patients and families by providing them access to the most recent scientific advances. This multidisciplinary approach, involving professors and researchers from various disciplines connected to anthropology, Christology, hermeneutics, philosophy of religion, image studies, and media theory, reflects the university's commitment to interdisciplinary research in the field of IDD.

The IDDRC's research, originally published in the NEUROSCIENCE Volume 7, will contribute significantly to the understanding and treatment of IDD, ultimately improving the quality of life for those affected by these disorders.