Center Core Grant for Vision Research

OVERALL ? PROJECT SUMMARY The Center Core Grant for Vision Research will further the research goals of 15 vision researchers at the University of Minnesota. The Core Grant will support four resource and service modules and an administrative module. The Administrative Module will support the overall management of the Core Grant and the four resource and service modules. The Administrative module will convene regular meetings comprised of the PI, the resource and service module directors, and the Administrative Manager. The Administrative module will distribute funds and determine the utilization of module resources for Core Grant Investigators and other University of Minnesota vision researchers. The Visual Testing module will provide the facilities to assess visual function in rats, mice and other small animals using measurements of the electroretinogram (ERG), the visual evoked potential (VEP), and the optokinetic response. The module will be managed by a visual testing manager who will maintain the test equipment, provide training to Core Grant investigators and staff on use of the equipment, and will run tests on experimental animals. The Histology module will provide a fully equipped histology laboratory and the services of the module histologist to Core Grant investigators and staff. Services offered by our skilled histologist, Ms. Heidi Roehrich, include embedding and sectioning of paraffin embedded and frozen tissue, immunohistochemistry using both DAB and fluorescence based procedures, in situ cell death detection, in situ hybridization, among many other procedures. The Neuroimaging module will provide tools and the expertise of the neuroimaging specialist to support investigators conducting visual neuroimaging experiments. The module will provide (1) software protocols and hardware for visual stimulus presentation to subjects in MR scanners, (2) protocols for identifying retinotopically organized visual areas in the brain, (3) equipment for monitoring subjects' direction of gaze during experiments. The neuroimaging specialist will advise investigators on experimental design, provide equipment and software protocols for conducting experiments, train laboratory personnel on the software used to identify visual areas of the brain, and maintain visual display equipment at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research. The Microscopy module will provide the use of over two dozen advanced imaging systems contained in the University of Minnesota's Imaging Centers (UIC). The facilities include NSIM super-resolution microscopy; light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM); spectral confocal microscopy; wide-field transmitted and fluorescence microscopy; spinning disk confocal and laser-scanning confocal microscopy; total internal reflectance microscopy (TIRF); laser capture micro-dissection; scanning and transmission electron microscopy; whole animal fluorescence and bioluminescence imagers, and µPET/CT. UIC staff provide training, conduct regular symposia on imaging techniques, and maintain the instruments.