This application requests renewal of a Core Grant for Vision Research to maintain five modules in the Cullen Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology which support vision research programs of 14 investigators at Baylor College of Medicine. Included are three research modules (Electron Microscopy, Image Analysis, and Molecular Biology) and two service modules (Research Photography, Instrumentation). The proposed Core faculty possess basic science skills and training in anatomy, cell biology, molecular biology, neurophysiology, biochemistry, molecular physiology, microbiology and immunology, molecular virology, molecular genetics, and pathology. The principal areas of vision research are the development and function of the retina at the cellular and molecular level; the molecular basis of visual signalling, signal termination, and adaptation in photoreceptor cells; the definition of interactions of retinal networks; the characterization of genes encoding photoreceptor and pigment epithelium components; the determination of the causes, treatment, and prevention of retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal degenerations; mapping the genes responsible for recessively inherited retinal dystrophies and congenital glaucoma: the determination of the causes and mechanisms of cataract formation; the definition of the molecular mechanisms of latency of herpes simplex virus; and improvement in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of microbial keratitis. Nine of the National Eye Institute-funded investigators have basic science appointments in academic units at Baylor College of Medicine. Thirteen graduate students and nine postdoctoral fellow's currently participate in vision research in the laboratories of the Core investigators. These Core modules will greatly enhance the capabilities of participating investigators by providing highly expensive, state-of-the-art equipment and new technology, as well as technical expertise and assistance, not otherwise available to them and their respective staff and trainees. In addition, the modules will help attract additional young investigators into vision research and enable Core investigators to expand individual research programs through collaborative projects with other Core faculty.
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