Live Imaging and Functional Evaluation (LIFE) Core

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Project Summary The SEI Vision Research Group has a longstanding track record of using mouse models for the study of ocular processes and disorders. The in vivo characterization of these mouse models has, to a large extent, been carried out using the testing modalities provided by the LIFE Core Component. At its inception, the LIFE Core component was received with a great deal of enthusiasm by the SEI faculty. With the growth of projects using a wide variety of mouse strains and mutants and the expansion of translational research projects where interventions to modify or rescue ocular disorders is being investigated (see investigators statements below), the LIFE component technologies have been crucial for monitoring a broad range of animal experiments, from studies of the outer retina to the dissection of signal transmission pathways to the visual cortex. As a benchmark of its productivity, the LIFE Core component has contributed directly to 29 publications in referred journals over the last grant period, with numerous ongoing studies. The LIFE Core component will continue to offer a broad range of functional and structural testing that can be customized to the needs of the investigator's specific research interests, focus and hypotheses. As in the past grant period, the LIFE Core will be used to define the structural and functional phenotypes in acquired or newly generated mouse mutants or to confirm whether they display the expected phenotypes, visual behavior and/or electrophysiological responses. Investigators will continue to use the structural and functional technologies of the LIFE Core to document the natural history of disease in mouse models of ocular disease before they are used for intervention experiments, including those interventions that are viral vector, stem cell, or pharmacologically based. The LIFE core directors are committed to the provision of state-of-the-art in vivo imaging and functional analysis of animal models of ocular disease and treatments. Toward this goal, equipment is upgraded on a regular basis and custom displays and protocols are created as needed to target the specific site in the visual pathway affected by disease and/or intervention. Over the next study period we will expand the functional imaging capabilities of the LIFE core by including several new and novel behavioral assays that have been brought to SEI by Dr. Sampath, who is a new member of our Basic Science Division and a Co-Director of this component. The addition of these expanded behavioral assays will add a new dimension to the phenotyping capabilities of the LIFE Core.