The main purpose of the Neurobiology and Neurodevelopmental Disease Research Core is to facilitate the development and completion of collaborative research projects that lead to new insights for understanding differential vulnerability to environmental stressors on neurodevelopmental conditions. While we capitalize on the strengths of established experimental systems, ultimately we intend to translate relevant findings to human populations. The development of this research core relies heavily upon the Center's facility cores, and is enhanced by interactions with other research cores. Specific aims of the Neurobiology and Neurodevelopmental Disease Research Core include the following:

• To mentor young scientists to develop new lines of investigation that exploit Neurobiology and Neurodevelopmental Disease to elucidate mechanisms underlying differential vulnerability between and within species that may ultimately shed light on human disease.
  
• To foster collaborative research among Center investigators.
  
• To enhance communication among investigators who are studying molecular, biochemical, genetic, environmental risk factors, and toxicological aspects of differential vulnerability to environmental stressors in diverse animal models and in humans.
  
• To function as consultants for established investigators interested in pursuing environmentally-directed research relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. In this way, we hope to recruit new investigators to the Center who will consider the role that environmental factors play in neurodevelopmental disorders, whether from a basic science perspective or from an applied science perspective.
  
• To promote interactions between this core and the other research cores and the COEP core of the Center.