Instrumentation Core

PROJECT SUMMARY: INSTRUMENTATION SERVICE MODULE The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC) includes faculty investigators with strong interest in discerning relationships between visual circuits and behavior, between cortical structures and physiology, and between brain regions and perception/behavior. These cellular- and systems-level investigations require access to expert design, fabrication, digital programming and maintenance of custom equipment and interface systems, especially for the use of rodents, non-human primates, and human experimentation. The purpose of the VVRC Instrumentation Module is to is to provide a comprehensive service for the design, fabrication, maintenance, repair, and interfacing of equipment to ensure the integrity of ongoing experimentation requiring custom services either unavailable commercially or prohibitively expensive. The Instrumentation Module provides expert machine shop fabrication of custom equipment and works closely with investigator-hired electronics and systems engineers for digital interfacing of equipment. This module is a VVRC-intrinsic core and service is provided to VVRC members by request and not through the VUMC Office of Research scholarship platform. In the current funding period, the instrumentation module contributed resources in support of 157 publications by 22 VVRC members, 9 of whom are current NEI R01 holders. These are indicated as such in our Progress Report Core Publications by Investigator document. A survey of researcher plans indicates that the use of this service will increase, with moderate to extensive use by 12 of 16 current NEI R01 holders and 22 of 52 total VVRC members. The instrumentation module, housed in 2000 sq ft of machine shop in the Hobbs Building proximal to VVRC investigators with additional electronics shop space (160 sq ft) in Wilson Hall near primary users, is directed by VVRC Investigator Christos Constantinidis, PhD. Using this space and personnel supported in part by this Core mechanism, the VVRC Instrumentation Module will: (1) design and fabricate custom equipment, (2) design, fabricate and program custom interface systems, (3) maintain and repair existing equipment in VVRC laboratories, and (4) modify and refine equipment and interface components as VVRC faculty needs evolve. These services and resources will enhance the scope of experimentation NEI-funded VVRC investigators conduct, promote innovation through creation of specialized equipment and interface components, and enhance collaboration by providing instrumentation support to those who otherwise would not have such capabilities, including early-career vision scientists and clinician-scientists competing for extramural funding for their laboratories.