Vision Research has been identified as an area for investment and development at the University of Texas in Houston. Thus, significant resources, personnel and laboratory space have been committed to the Vision Research Consortium, a faculty group which crosses departmental lines. The Vision Research Consortium currently holds 12 qualifying NEI grants with two additional NEI U10 awards for clinical research. In the last grant period, we recruited 9 new faculty members, 8 in the last year. Two already hold NEI grants and significant growth in NEI funding is anticipated as the other new faculty members establish their research programs. These new recruits were attracted, in part, by the outstanding facilities supported by the Vision Core Grant, including a new confocal microscope. In total, the Vision Research Consortium now consists of 31 vision scientists from the Medical School, the School of Public Health and the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Together, they published 144 papers in the last grant period. The members of the Vision Research Consortium receive approximately $4.2 million (direct costs) of research funds annually. In 2002/03, the Vision Research Consortium received almost $4 million of institutional support for new faculty and equipment. The Vision Research Consortium has significant strength in the areas of Visual Neuroscience, Molecular Genetics, Visual System Development, Multi-Center Clinical Trials and Clinical Research. Support is requested for 5 modules which reflect the breadth of these interests: a Biostatistics Module, an Imaging Module, a Tissue Culture Module, a Computer Software and Hardware Support Module and a Gene Microarray Module. These will provide research opportunities not available to individual faculty members. Core support will encourage interdepartmental collaboration, especially between basic and clinical scientists, and support pilot projects leading to new research programs. With the continued support of the Vision Core Grant, a further period of growth and innovative research is expected for the Vision Research Consortium.
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