Integration, Planning and Oversight of Core Activities

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Administrative Core Abstract: The overall goal of this UTSW Core Grant for vision research is to enhance the capabilities of vision research scientists by facilitating easy access to equipment, training and technical support which will: expand experimental capabilities, advance scientific rigor, result in more cost-effective and time-efficient research, and open up new research directions. The Core Grant will also help to sustain a fertile environment for the development of young vision researchers and stimulate new collaborations between vision scientists at UTSW and other institutions in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. Our proposed NEI Core Center consists of three Resource/Service Modules, each directed by a faculty member with experience and expertise in their unit’s focus area: 1) Cell Culture and Cell Phenotyping; 2) Molecular Biology/Virus Production; and, 3) Microscopy and Digital Imaging. In addition, the Center includes a biostatistician who will work with each of the Investigators regarding the design of their research studies, and with planning for the rigorous analysis of their data and interpretation of their results. W. Matthew Petroll, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the Administrative Core and Center Director, will be responsible for overall administration of the Core Center and of the NEI P30 grant. Dr. Petroll will oversee Departmental secretarial and administrative staff who will provide administrative support for Center activities. This will include: 1) arranging equipment maintenance, managing service contracts, and purchasing supplies to support all three scientific Modules; 2) scheduling meetings related to the Core Grant activities; 3) maintaining budgets and providing monthly summaries of expenditures to Dr. Petroll and the three Module Directors. Dr. Petroll will hold monthly meetings of the Module Directors to troubleshoot any problems that might arise, to ensure that priorities are satisfied and that Modules are heavily used, and to identify opportunities for bringing new projects to the Center. He will also host the semi-annual meetings of the Core Grant Advisory Committee, which will offer advice on technical issues and will serve to adjudicate any serious conflicts that might arise. In addition, the Advisory Committee members have strong connections to researchers in a variety of disciplines, and are uniquely positioned to identify and promote potential multi-disciplinary collaborations, and recommend the incorporation of new technologies and techniques. Success of the Core Grant will be assessed by the following outcome measures: a) number of participants utilizing each Module; b) number of publications that benefited from one or more of the Modules; c) number of pilot studies supported by the Core Grant that culminated in the awarding of new NEI research grants or private foundation grants; d) number of postdoctoral fellows, medical students, and graduate students that productively utilized each Module; and e) number of students whose dissertation research relied on the support of one or more Modules; and the number of these students who completed their Ph.D. in an NEI-focused area.