The Department of Ophthalmology is the center of a Core Grant for Vision Research from the National Eye Institute (NEI) that has been continuously funded for more than 30 years. The current grant supports several shared-use resource Modules under the direction of principal investigator, Dr. Janice M. Burke. Dr. Burke also acts as director of the Cell Culture Module, which is located on the seventh floor of the Eye Institute adjoining Dr. Burke's laboratory. This Module serves as the clearing house for obtaining eye tissues from human and animal eyes, and grows many types of cultured cells and cell lines for distribution to investigators both within and outside of MCW.
The Core Morphology Module, which is directed by Dr. Brian Link, is located partly in the basement of the Eye Institute where the electron microscope and tissue processing instruments are located, and partly on the seventh floor, where light, epifluorescence and phase contrast microscopes are located. The expert technicians in this Module prepare tissue, cell, subcellular fractions, and other samples for morphologic analysis to assist both laboratory and clinical scientists. Also on the seventh floor of the Eye Institute is the Molecular Biology-Biochemistry Module, which under the co-direction of Drs.William J. O'Brien and Sally Twining provides assistance with commonly used protocols, access to well-maintained shared-use major instruments, and instruction in cutting-edge methods in these fields. The Core Image Analysis Module, directed by Dr. Joe Carroll, is a semi-virtual Module of networked desk and instrument-linked computers offering access to analytical programs and many image or data collection instruments located in other Modules, including microscopes of many types, a live-cell imaging system, densitometers, spectrophotometers, etc. The Module also offers engineering support and access to high resolution tools to study the retina including adaptive optics and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Within MCW's vivarium, the Biomedical Resource Center, is space dedicated to the NEI Core-supported Animal Resource Module. This Module, which is directed by Dr. Duska (DJ) Sidjanin provides surgical, examination and physiological assessment instruments for the study of animal eyes.
In addition to the Module directors, scientists in other departments and institutes on campus avail themselves of the Core Modules for assistance with their studies of the eye and the visual system at the level of the brain. Core collaborators include Drs. Joseph Besharse and Margaret Wong-Riley in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy; Dr.Edgar DeYoe in the Department of Radiology; Dr.Witold Subczynski in the Department of Biophysics; and Dr. Elena Semina in the Department of Pediatrics.