A core facility is a centralized, shared resource that provides access to instruments; technologies; services; cellular, animal, or human study support; and expert consultation to scientific investigators. NIH funds a significant number of core facilities at hundreds of institutions throughout the United States. 

Anecdotal reports of overlapping cores at institutions, the impact of federal policies, and questions of quality and access led NCRR to issue a Request for Information (RFI), which solicited input from the extramural research community on their concerns and experiences with research cores. The workshop, “Technology Cores: Designs for Efficient Management and Utilization,” taking place at Natcher Auditorium, NIH, July 14 –15, 2009, has been designed to explore the issues raised by the scientific community and provide a forum for proposed improvements. Specific areas of interest include ways to encourage optimum use of cores and ways to provide access to core facilities to investigators who currently lack that access