The Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan was build in 1985. During the past 14 years the research faculty in the D4epartment of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences has doubled. We maintain a strong reputation as a leading research center that has accomplish4ed many of the NIH goals enumerated in Vision Research-A National Plan. Our NEI dollar award national ranking has moved from 17th to 4th place among ophthalmology departments. Much of this we owe to the environment offered by the new Eye Center. We have been particularly productive in molecular mechanisms research and the genetic research related to degenerative disorders of the retina, glaucoma, and cataracts, as well as performing clinical trials in these fields. Our successes have allowed us to attract outstanding senior and junior scientists to our faculty, and to pursue major new initiatives related to the molecular genetic basis of glaucoma and cataract, which are high priorities of the National Plan. Since the original building design could not have forecast the specific laboratory needs for our current research we are preparing to renovated the entire second floor of the Kellogg Eye Center to convert clinical space into three laboratories and an associated shared equipment area comprising a cold room, tissue culture room, and research conference room for glaucoma and cataract research. The proposed renovations on the second floor will provide laboratories for two new investigators, as well as free up some of the space needed to relieve crowding in our fifth floor research programs in molecular genetics, retinal degenerations and gene therapy.
