An explicit goal of the NERC is to serve broadly as a research resource to other investigators, and collaborative participation in Center research is encouraged and facilitated. A substantial portion of the Center's resources will be expended to plan, develop, manage, and analyze the exposure atmospheres, and to conduct the health studies and analyze the resulting data. To the extent feasible, this investment will be leveraged by making these resources available to external investigators for the conduct of complementary studies in a cost-effective manner on a non-interference basis. In this manner, many hypotheses can be tested in addition to those addressed directly by Center investigators in the core studies.

Several types of Center research resources are provided in addition to the many collaborative opportunities that have long been available and encouraged at LRRI:

• Inclusion of additional, special-purpose animals or in vitro test systems in planned Center exposures
  
  
• Provision of biological or exposure atmosphere samples from planned Center studies for ancillary evaluations
  
  
• Inclusion of experimental endpoints in planned Center studies which are not among those in the planned Center experimental designs
  
  
• Conduct of separate, special-purpose exposures not included in the Center's research strategy