This is an application to fund a Core Grant for Vision Research at Harvard Medical School. The core faculty will be made up of six members of the Department of Neurobiology and eight scientists from other departments at Harvard University with whom awe share common interests. All of us study t he visual system, which we approach at many different levels. Current research areas include: the cell biology of the cornea and lens; the physiology and pharmacology of retinal function; visual processing in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), striate cortex and extrastriate cortex; the development of the Drosophila visual system; and the development of the mammalian retina and central visual pathways. We propose to have one resource module and three service modules. The resource module will be a Quantitive Microscopy facility for the reconstruction of the location and/or morphology of labeled cells in histological samples. The service modules will include a Machine Shop with expertise in developing equipment for physiological experiments, a Laboratory computer Module with expertise in data-acquisition hardware and software, and an Electronics Module with expertise in electrophysiological hardware. The modules will be staffed by personnel with extensive training in the appropriate fields and will be supervised by established investigators. The vision community at Harvard is large and cohesive; many collaborations already exist between researchers. The Core Grant will promote further collaborations and will facilitate ongoing vision research at Harvard in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This support will help the researchers to elucidate basic mechanisms that underlie the function of the eye and visual system and to apply this knowledge in the solution of problems in vision and ophthalmology.
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