VISION RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GRANT

描述（由申请人提供）：一项视觉研究基础设施发展拨款，旨在支持加州大学尔湾分校眼科的视觉研究，为共享设备和资源提供资金，并促进视觉科学家之间的更大合作。该部门最近的发展汇集了细胞和分子生物学家、免疫学家、病毒学家和工程师，他们对研究视力相关疾病机制有共同的兴趣。该提案的目标有两个方面：(1)在共享环境中整合常用技术，为支持现有设备和专业知识提供更有效的机制。(2)将来自不同学科的研究者聚集在一起，为多学科合作研究提供一个环境，最大限度地利用眼科研究者的个人能力。为了实现这些目标，我们确定了两个关键功能：(1)细胞培养；2)显微成像，这不仅需要当前的支持，而且将极大地扩展我们在未来回答视觉相关问题的能力。因此，我们建议设立两个核心设施。首先，将建立细胞培养设施，以a)维护共享的组织培养设备和服务，b)提供常规细胞培养服务，c)细胞库，d)支原体和内毒素监测，e) Vi-CELL（tm）活力分析。其次，显微镜成像设施将提供最先进的服务，包括a)光和荧光显微镜，b)共聚焦激光扫描显微镜，c)多光子共聚焦显微镜和延时成像，d)体内共聚焦显微镜和e)定量形态测量和数字图像分析。虽然这项基础设施发展拨款的直接目标是建立更集中的设施，以节省时间、能源和资源，但我们相信，通过加强与来自不同学科的其他研究人员的合作，以及提供更容易获得最先进的设备和充分利用这些新技术所需的专业知识，建立这些设施将极大地扩展每个研究人员的个人能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A Vision Research Infrastructure Development Grant to support vision research within the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California, Irvine is proposed to provide funding of shared equipment and resources and to promote greater collaboration between vision scientists. Recent growth within the Department has brought together cellular and molecular biologists, immunologists, virologists and engineers that share an interest in studying vision related disease mechanisms. The goals of this proposal are two fold: (1) To bring commonly used technologies together within a shared environment to provide a more efficient mechanism for supporting existing equipment and expertise. (2) To bring together individual investigators from diverse disciplines to provide an environment for collaborative multidisciplinary research that maximally utilizes the individual capabilities of the investigators within the Department of Ophthalmology. In order to achieve these goals we have identified two key functions, (1) Cell Culture; and 2) Microscopic Imaging, that not only need current support but will also greatly expand our abilities to answer vision related questions in the future. We therefore propose to establish two Core Facilities. First, the Cell Culture Facility will be established to a) maintain shared tissue culture equipment and services, b) provide routine cell culture services, c) cell banking, d) mycoplasma and endotoxin monitoring, and e) Vi-CELL(tm) Viability Analyzing. Secondly, the Microscopy Imaging Facility that will provide state-of-the-art services in a) light and fluorescent microscopy, b) confocal laser scanning microscopy, c) multiphoton confocal microscopy and time lapse imaging, d) in vivo confocal microscopy and e) quantitative morphometry and digital image analysis. While the immediate goal of this Infrastructure Development Grant is to establish more centralized facilities to save time, energy and resources, we believe that establishing these facilities will greatly expand the individual capabilities of each investigator through enhanced collaboration with other investigators from different disciplines and by providing easier access to state-of-the-art equipment and the expertise needed to fully use these new technologies.