We are proposing five Core modules to support the active and growing research programs that have been developed in the four year history of the LSU Eye Center. The Ocular Structure Module will provide light and electron microscopy capabilities, thereby increasing the availability of anatomical techniques for eye researchers. As such the module will serve physiologists concerned with anatomical correlates of function, biochemists monitoring the consistency of sub-cellular fractions, immunologists involved with immunopathology and cell biology, as well as those more directly concerned with cell structure of ocular tissue. The Tissue Culture Module will provide cell cultures, custom-made tissued culture reagents, cell banks of frozen cells that may be grown out when needed, an inventory of herpes simplex virus (HSV) strains, other viruses and their host cells, and three cell lines: RK-13 cells, Vero cells, and HEp-2 cells. The Instrument Shop Module will provide high quality instrument fabrication and technical advice for the construction of special equipment needs. The Computer and Biostatistics Module will provide technical assistance for the development of data collection and analysis, applications software, systems software, instructional methods, and accurate collection of patient data from our ongoing studies within the department. The Patient Coordination Module will monitor patient schedules, testing schedules, study designs, and data collection, and also collect information about the availability of needed biological samples and/or specific types of patients as liaison between the clinical patient population and the needs of the various research projects. In summary, the Core facilities will be essential to the development of the individual and collaborative research goals of the faculty in this department, in other LSU departments, and outside this institution. These central facilities provide a focus of attraction for investigators in the clinical and basic sciences whose central facilities provide a focus of attraction for investigators in the clinical and basic sciences whose individual grants cannot support such amenities, but whose work is enhanced and extended by the use of the modules and the intellectual stimulation of the resulting collaborations.
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