PROJECT SUMMARY INTEGRATIVE GENETICS & GENOMICS CORE (IGGC) The Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction (CSNA)’s Integrative Genetics and Genomics Core (IGGC) integrates and disseminates data from a coordinated, synergistic set of biobehavioral studies of psychostimulant addiction susceptibility. Central to this integration is the expansion of systems genetics tools and approaches to examine genetic correlations among addiction-related behaviors, identify underlying genes and variants, pathways and neurobiological mechanisms and extrapolate them to human conditions. The IGGC provides innovative systems genetics approaches, serving all projects with advanced analyses developed by the core leads and others. The objectives of the IGGC are: 1) To deliver rigorous, reproducible experimental design and molecular phenotyping through an Experimental Design, Colony Management and Sample Tracking service and a Molecular Analysis service. Our experimental design will be executed with the assistance of a robust LIMS system that facilitates rapid data dissemination. Genotyping, gene expression and other molecular analysis will be conducted using validated protocols and data will be integrated with phenotypic data. 2) To develop and implement traceable statistical, statistical genetics and bioinformatics pipelines for the expanded molecular and behavioral phenotyping studies through a Statistical Genetic Analysis service. Rigorous integrative statistical analysis of data generated by the CSNA will be performed using a suite of specialized tools devised largely by the IGGC team, including reference trait analysis and genetic correlations. 3) To manage, integrate and disseminate data through widely accessible cross-species genetic and genomic resources through Cross Species Integration and Data Dissemination services. We will achieve cross species integration at the variant and molecular level using the GeneWeaver platform, which enables multi-species data integration through advanced combinatorial algorithms. Data will be shared through a suite of complementary and widely accessed resources for integrative analysis and interpretation. Each service includes processes for quality control, quality assurance and effective resource utilization by all members of the CSNA. The Core structure—based on our experience that one cannot separate data analysis from careful experimental design and project management— will ensure faithful execution of an integrated experimental protocol across the CSNA’s projects. The IGGC will interact closely with the Behavioral Phenotyping Core to conduct complex behavioral analysis directed at predisposing and drug self-administration traits, and the Mouse Resources and Validation Core to receive validation cohorts for behavioral testing. By meeting standards for research reproducibility, data quality and data integrity, the IGGC will enable discovery of novel biomolecular mechanisms of addiction susceptibility and ensure lasting uti...