Funds are requested for continued funding of our Core Grant for Vision Research (EY03040). Since its inception in 1979, this grant has supported the development of a premier program in vision research at the Doheny Eye Institute (DEI) in association with the Departments of Ophthalmology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) and Children's Hospital (CHLA) at Los Angeles. The growth of DEI to be fourth in the nation in receipt of NEI funds can be attributed in no small part to the support provided by this grant. The proposed Core consists of four service modules: Biostatistics, Histology and Immunopathology, Specialized Microscopy, and a new module, Functional Genomics. It supports the salaries of expert supervisor/technicians and a modest amount of supplies for each module. The Director of each module is a PI on at least 1 NEI R01 grant. The faculty users hold 27 NEI grants (15 R01s, 1 R01 subcontract, 3 U10s, 1 K23, 2 R21s, 3 R03s, 1 R24 subcontract and 1 R43 subcontract). This Core Grant has supported the publication of 800 peer-reviewed papers since its inception. Productivity of the group has been excellent over the past grant period, with 216 peer-reviewed publications, most of which represent collaborative studies. The availably of the Core Grant has supported the recruitment of 13 new research faculty, who now hold 2 R01s, 1 R03, 2 R21s, 1 R01 subcontract, 1 R24 subcontract and 1 R43 subcontract from the NEI, in addition to 2 federal grants from the Department of Energy, 2 federal grants from the National Science foundation, and 3 grants from private foundations. Each of our NEI grants relies heavily on one or more services provided by the Core modules. The expert staff associated with the modules could not be afforded or justified by the demands of any one grant, but are fully justified by the requirements of the combined faculty. A great strength of this program is the support it provides for new faculty and collaborative studies involving other disciplines.
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