Multidisciplinary Research Centers and Areas
Ohio State’s research and creative expression community is committed to defining and addressing the world’s most pressing challenges through the creation and dissemination of new knowledge. The following are Office of Research centers, institutes and units that bring together faculty, students and staff to address focused topics whose breadth cannot be confined to research in a single college.
Academic Centers
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
The internationally recognized Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) is named in honor of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, America’s most famous polar explorer. Research focuses on the role of cold regions in the Earth’s overall climate system.
Center for Emergent Materials
The Center for Emergent Materials (CEM) is part of a network of Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers funded by the National Science Foundation. Multidisciplinary teams perform integrated research on emergent materials and phenomena in magneto electronics to create new paradigms in computing and information storage.
Center for RNA Biology
The Center for RNA Biology houses the single largest group of RNA experts in the country. The center is building on the university’s existing strengths in RNA biology to advance life sciences research and education.
Center of Microbiome Science
The Center of Microbiome Science empowers microbiome science for the design and prediction of microbial communities in animal, plant, human, environmental, and engineered systems.
Gene Therapy Institute
The Gene Therapy Institute is an interdisciplinary community bringing together world-class faculty with diverse expertise in the area of gene therapy research. Through collaboration the institute enables the successful translation of basic science discoveries into new therapies that are accessible to affected populations around the globe.
Global Water Institute
The Global Water Institute (GWI) at Ohio State is a collaboration engine that delivers sustainable systems solutions for complex water issues. It serves to link the creative abilities of the university community and external partners to provide practical and innovative solutions to problems of water.
Infectious Diseases Institute
The Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) harnesses Ohio State’s history of excellence in infectious disease and microbiology research, education and outreach to address the compelling challenge of infectious disease to human, animal, plant and environmental health.
Institute for Materials Research
The Institute for Materials Research (IMR) is the gateway to Ohio State’s materials-allied research enterprise. Signature research areas include photovoltaics, magnetoelectronics, biomaterials and biosensors, computation materials and polymers.
Institute for Optical Science
The Institute for Optical Science is a community of multidisciplinary researchers studying the fundamental properties of light and harnessing these properties in practical applications for significant benefit to society.
Translational Data Analytics Institute
The Translational Data Analytics Institute (TDAI) is advancing Ohio toward becoming a global hub for the development, application and study of translational data analytics solution. TDAI is enabling collaboration and innovation in translational analytics and contributing nationally and internationally to the maturation of translational data analytics as a field.
Core Facilities
Campus Chemical Instrument Center
The Campus Chemical Instrument Center (CCIC) provides state-of-the-art research facilities to the Ohio State research community in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and proteomics.
Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility
The Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility (CMIF) offers a full range of microscopy for university faculty, staff and students as well as researchers outside the university.
Research Areas
Chronic Brain Injury
Building on Ohio State’s strengths in research on spinal cord injury, aging, and neuroinflammation, the Chronic Brain Injury program is a multidisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians working to improve the lives of traumatic brain injury survivors. By focusing on the chronic effects of injury including neurobehavioral complications and neurodegenerative pathologies, researchers are creating opportunities for innovation at the intersections of neuroscience, engineering, fine arts, and patient care.
Foods for Health
Many costly and preventable chronic conditions – heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes – are affected by diet. Inadequate nutrition is also a major cause of developmental delays and death worldwide. By building on collaborations among faculty that span a breadth of expertise and by joining key partners in the public and private sectors, Foods for Health is working to create a healthier future for individuals and communities around the world.