The Department of Ophthalmology is the center of a Core Grant for Vision Research from the National Eye Institute that has been continuously funded for nearly 30 years. The current grant supports several shared-use resource Modules under the direction of principal investigator, Dr. Janice M. Burke, who also directs the Morphology and Cell Culture Modules. The Morphology Module is located in part in the basement of the Eye Institute where the electron microscope and tissue processing instruments are located, and in part on the seventh floor, where light, epifluorescence and phase contrast microscopes are located. The expert technicians in this Module prepare tissue, cell, subcellular fraction, and other samples for morphologic analysis to assist both laboratory and clinical scientists. The Cell Culture Module, housed on the seventh floor of the Eye Institute adjoining Dr. Burke's laboratory, 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.
Also on the seventh floor of the Eye Institute is the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Module which is co-directed by Drs. Maureen Neitz and William J. O'Brien to provide assistance with commonly used protocols, well-maintained shared-use major instruments, and instruction in cutting-edge methods in these fields. The Core Image Analysis Module, directed by Jay Neitz, is a semi-virtual Module of networked desk and instrument-linked computers offering access to analytical programs and many electronic image collection instruments (e.g., microscopes of many types, densitometers, etc.). The instruments that are accessed are located in other NEI Core Modules as well as in the school's Imaging Core in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy. Within MCW's vivarium, the Biomedical Resource Center, is space dedicated to the Core-supported Animal Surgery Module. This Module, which is directed by Dr. Sally Twining, provides surgical and examination instruments for the study of animal eyes.
In addition to the Module directors, other scientists in the Eye Institute and 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. DJ Sidjanin, Joseph Besharse, Edgar DeYoe, Brian Link and Margaret Wong-Riley in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy; Drs. Tadeusz Sarna and Witold Subczynski in the Biophysics Research Institute; and Dr. Elena Semina in the Department of Pediatrics.