This proposal requests matching funds to facilitate a part of the renovation of the Volker Hall Research Tower at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Volker Hall was completed in 1971, and remains the largest research building at UAB. The School of Medicine has already initiated this renovation, and has completed work on the North half of Level Five. This proposal is to renovate the remaining half of Level Five and all of Level Six. The occupants of the newly renovated space will be members of the Adhesion Receptor Unit of the Cell Adhesion and Matrix Research Center (CAMRC). This Unit is an interdisciplinary research group with eleven investigators from four departments. The long-term objectives of these investigators are to advance the understanding of adhesion receptors in human diseases (polycystic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, basal cell carcinoma), developmental processes (muscle, skin), and anti-tumor therapeutics. The space will house a Molecular Interactions Core Facility that will provide a comprehensive facility for fluorescence resonance energy transfer microscopy, microinjection, time-lapse video microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, interference reflection microscopy, high-resolution digital deconvolution, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The CAMRC also supports a Hybridoma Core and Transgenic Core for the Adhesion Receptor Unit and the broader array of CAMRC investigators involved in genetics, cancer, immunology, diabetes, and arthritis research. This project will thus provide state-of-the- art facilities to support PHS-funded research in areas emerging as high priorities for new therapeutic strategies and health maintenance.
