CORE GRANT FOR VISION RESEARCH

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Funds are requested by 43 vision scientists to support 5 research modules to facilitate and enhance interaction among the vision scientists in the various disciplines represented at the Eye Research Institute. The modules will extend endeavors of individual research programs by providing collaborative opportunities for projects in which investigators do not have expertise, funding, or technical capabilities. . The modules are: Morphology, Tissue Culture/Monoclonal Antibody, Animal Resource, Laboratory Computer Applications, and Biostatistics. The Morphology Module will provide light and electron microscopy capabilities and tissue preparation for histochemistry and in situ hybridization, thereby increasing the availability of morphologic techniques to biochemists, pharmacologists, and immunologists who need correlative morphologic data for their research. The Tissue Culture/Monoclonal Antibody Module will assist PIs in selecting appropriate culture techniques and media and in producing characterized tissue cultures of ocular origin, and will be responsible for cell fusions and storage of designated clones for monoclonal antibody production. Such a resource will augment the research of investigators whose primary expertise and assistance in animal surgical techniques and postoperative care, administration of anesthesia, drugs, and medications, and antigen injections and bleedings required for polyclonal antibody production. The Laboratory Computer Applications Module will provide support to individual and collaborative efforts by assisting in interfacing of microcomputers with lab equipment and by developing software for gathering, processing, and analyzing experimental data by microcomputer systems. The Biostatistics Module will provide support to individual and collaborative efforts by assisting both clinicians and basic researchers in statistical aspects of study design and data analysis; principal module utilization will be in planning, design, and execution of clinical studies and in statistical analysis of research data. . The modules are staffed by personnel with specialized training in the respective fields. Each module is under the immediate supervision of an established, experienced investigator(s). The module heads constitute the Core Grant administrative committee, which is responsible to a committee of senior investigators who are ERI research unit heads.