VISION RESEARCH CORE GRANT

PROJECT SUMMARY – OVERALL This application seeks five years of continued support for an NEI Core Grant that has facilitated the research efforts of vision scientists at the University of California Davis for the past 25 years. The goal is to enhance vision science by providing cost-efficient, stable, and shared resources that are not generally available to individual laboratories. It will enhance collaborations and translational research among a large group of vision scientists at UC Davis holding 17 Core-eligible NEI R01 grants. It will also facilitate collection of preliminary data for new grant applications by funded and yet-to-be-funded UC Davis laboratories, and sharing of resources developed for UC Davis with the vision science community outside of our institution. Building on the existing strengths of the individual cores while also being responsive to new directions and opportunities in the field, the currently funded cores have evolved to better serve the needs of our NEI investigators. The proposed cores are: (i) Software Engineering, (ii) Molecular Construct and Packaging, (iii) Microscopy and Tissue Processing, (iv) Small Animal Ocular Imaging, and (v) Large Animal. Each core director has one or more NEI R01 grants, and is supported by talented and skilled technical staff. These five cores provide custom facilities and personnel that serve the needs of our NEI investigators and their trainees. The administrative structure includes an Executive Committee comprised of the principal investigator and the core directors, along with regular input from all vision scientists on campus, and a distinguished group of external advisors. Priorities for use of core facilities have been carefully honed and made available to all investigators. The administration of UC Davis has been, and continues to be, exceptionally supportive of vision research on our campus. This is demonstrated by a substantial increase in the number of vision scientists recruited to our campus, by internal funding of $350,000 as a supplement to this grant, the planned recruitment of new faculty in vision science, and funding for the Center for Visual Sciences, which provides a means for unifying our community of vision researchers and fostering collaborations with an accomplished cohort of biologists on campus and vision scientists at other institutions.