CORE GRANT IN VISION RESEARCH

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC) spanning the College of Arts & Science, Peabody College of Education, School of Engineering and School of Medicine requests uninterrupted support for four modules plus support for one new module. (1) The Animal Care Module provides specialized breeding, enrichment, surgical support and veterinary care of nonhuman primates and other large animals as well as genotyping and phenotyping of transgenic mice. These services not provided by the Vanderbilt Division of Animal Care. (2) The Computer Module provides hardware installation and maintenance, software development for visual displays and real-time data acquisition and analysis, webpage maintenance and production of illustrations for journals, slides and posters. (3) The Image Processing Module aids acquisition and analysis of optical imaging, fMRI and other imaging data. This module will also provide access to and support of confocal microscopy. (4) The Shop Module repairs, designs and fabricates specialized optical, mechanical and electronic instruments. Support is also requested for a new Gene & Protein Analysis Module that will provide economical access to gene microarray and protein mass spectrometry services. Administrative support is requested to ensure continued smooth and stable operation of the VVRC research and training missions. Modules are directed by investigators with NEI funding, have talented and experienced staff and provide services that are otherwise not available or would be prohibitively expensive or slow. During the last grant period, each module was used moderately or extensively by no less than five investigators. VVRC investigators produced several hundred publications that made fundamental contributions to basic and clinical visual science. The Core grant has increased collaborations between basic and clinical vision researchers across the Vanderbilt campus and with other institutions. The Core grant has improved our ability to recruit world-class vision researchers to Vanderbilt resulting in a more-thandoubling of NEI-sponsored research at Vanderbilt. The high level of performance of VVRC investigators, which depends on renewed Core grant support, synergizes with campus-wide initiatives in biomedical research and training at Vanderbilt.