Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC)

Overview

The Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) conducts an extensive program of research on the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental retardation and developmental disabilities. The Center's research in the biomedical sciences addresses a variety of areas of developmental neuroscience, including cell biology, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and molecular biology. Research areas in the biobehavioral, behavioral, and social sciences include behavior analysis, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology and information processing, psychobiology, technology transfer, health promotion, and social policy analysis.

The UMMS MRDDRC has two overarching purposes consistent with its mission:

• To foster and maintain high-quality programs that will advance scientific knowledge relevant to understanding and potentially ameliorating problems of individuals with MRDD and their families.
• To encourage collaborative relationships between scientists from different disciplines, and thereby produce a interdisciplinary approach to the complex phenomena of MRDD.

Our mission translates into the following general classes of activity: 

• To encourage productive, state-of-the-art research in developmental neuroscience that continues to make progress on important problems of relevance to mental retardation and developmental disabilities;
• To expand the scientific foundation for accomplishing successful interventions that will have positive impact on the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families;
• To pursue multidimensional scientific problems in which the contribution of several disciplines is essential in order to achieve broad understanding of their nature;
• To maintain an environment in which resources can be used efficiently and directed to support programs of high priority and relevance to mental retardation and developmental disabilities

Four Core units encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and research that is relevant to the missions of the Shriver Center and NICHD. The Core units are: Administration, Neuroscience Integration & Support, Scientific Communications & Technical Information Services, and Clinical & Translational Research Support. Each Core unit gives high quality, cost-effective service to a number of PHS-funded projects. New Program Development funds are periodically available to support pilot projects to establish new research directions for the Center and its investigators.

The MRDDRC is one of the major components of an evolving Center of Excellence at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The Center for Interdisciplinary Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Inquiry (CINDI) emphasizes research, training, technology transfer, and service provision in broadly defined areas relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders and disabilities.

What Is The Purpose Of A MRDDRC?

Mental retardation and related developmental disabilities have both biological and environmental determinants leading to atypical neurological and behavioral development. As such, achieving full understanding of these complex conditions requires studies with biomedical, biobehavioral, behavioral, and social science dimensions. NICHD established the MRDDRC network to foster interdisciplinary studies of this nature. Specifically, a P30 is intended to support state-of-the-art core services that will simultaneously enhance disciplinary MR/DD research and create incentives for MRDDRC scientists to develop interdisciplinary collaborations.