Instrumentation Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY: INSTRUMENTATION SERVICE MODULE The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC) includes faculty investigators with strong interest in discerning relationships between visual circuits and behavior, between cortical structures and physiology, and between brain regions and perception/behavior. These cellular- and systems-level investigations require access to expert design, fabrication, digital programming and maintenance of custom equipment and interface systems, especially for the use of non-human primates and human experimentation. The purpose of the VVRC Instrumentation Module is to is to provide a comprehensive service for the design, fabrication, maintenance, repair and electronic programming and interfacing of equipment to ensure the integrity of ongoing experimentation requiring custom services either unavailable commercially or prohibitively expensive. The Instrumentation Module provides not only machine shop fabrication of custom equipment, but electronics and systems engineering for digital interfacing of equipment. This module is a VVRC-intrinsic core and is not part of a VUMC institutional facility; therefore, the service is provided to VVRC members by request and not through the VUMC Office of Research scholarship platform. In the current funding period the instrumentation module contributed resources in support of 14 investigators with 68 publications resulting from use of the service. These are indicated as such in our Progress Report Core Publications by Investigator document. Availability of this module during the current period saved VVRC investigators $513,070 in machinist and systems engineer costs that otherwise would have to be obtained commercially. A survey of researcher plans indicates that the use of this service will increase, with moderate to extensive use by 22 of 36 VVRC investigators. The instrumentation module, housed in 2000 sq ft of machine shop in the Hobbs Building proximal to VVRC investigators with additional electronics shop space (160 sq ft) in Wilson Hall near primary users, is directed by VVRC Investigator Geoffrey Woodman, PhD. Using this space and personnel supported in part by this Core mechanism, the VVRC Instrumentation Module will: (1) design and fabricate custom equipment, (2) design, fabricate and program custom interface systems, (3) maintain and repair existing equipment in VVRC laboratories, and (4) modify and refine equipment and digital interface components as VVRC faculty needs evolve. These services and resources will enhance the scope of experimentation NEI-funded VVRC investigators conduct, promote innovation through creation of specialized equipment and interface components, and enhance collaboration by providing instrumentation support to those who otherwise would not have such capabilities, including early-career vision scientists and clinician-scientists competing for extramural funding for their laboratories.