The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC) spanning the College of Arts and Science, Peabody College, School of Engineering and School of Medicine requests uninterrupted Core grant support for five modules. Animal Care provides specialized housing, breeding and enrichment, surgical preparation and assistance and other services not provided by the Division of Animal Care. Computer Programming and Support provides software and hardware support as well as custom programming of visual displays, real-time data acquisition and data analysis. Computer Graphics and Illustration provides digital and photographic facilities and services to produce color or monochrome illustrations for journals, slides and posters. Electronic and Machine Shops repair or design and fabricate specialized optical, mechanical and electronic instruments. New support is requested for an Image Processing module to provide aid in acquisition and analysis of fMRI and other image data. Administrative support is requested to insure continued smooth and stable operation of the VVRC research and training missions. Each module is directed by an investigator who has or is competing for NEI funding, has talented and experienced staff and provides services that are either otherwise not available or would be prohibitively expensive or slow. Over the last grant period, each module was used moderately by at least four investigators. During the last grant period VVRC investigators produced several hundred publications that made fundamental contributions to basic and clinical visual science. The Core grant has noticeably increased collaborations between vision researchers across the Vanderbilt campus and with other institutions; as a result, the strong basic research mission of the VVRC has been enhanced by participation of clinical researchers. The Core grant has improved our ability to recruit world-class vision researchers to Vanderbilt and, in conjunction with an NEI training grant, has improved our development of new vision scientists through the VVRC Training Program. The high level of performance of VVRC investigators, which depends on renewed Core grant support, will synergize with new campus- wide initiatives in neuroscience research and training at Vanderbilt.
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