CWRU VSRC

Core Facilities

The VSRC Core Modules are here to enhance the quality of your research in the most accurate & economical manner. We have the expertise~

BRING US YOUR PROJECTS!

Visual Sciences Research Center Core Module Managers:

Front row: Denice, Moon, Benlian Back row: Cathy, Scott, Dawn

VSRC Core Modules can improve & facilitate your vision research

Tissue Culture & Hybridoma

Dawn & Denice can assist you with all your tissue culture needs, especially when it comes to the growth and maintenance of "eye" cell lines! Dawn has over five years experience in culturing these often finicky types of cells. They can also assists with transfections and troubleshooting of tissue culture problems. Denice provides assistance in developing, growing and ultimately purifying antibodies produced from hybridomas. She does this at a fraction of the cost for you when compared to enlising the aid of external sources.

Molecular Biology and Specialized Animal Resources

Moon provides genotyping services, including primer design. Working with Katie & Heather, in the Specialized Animal Resources Core, she ensures you are working with the purest strains of mice available. Additionally, she can help you with cloning and construct construction.

Histology

Cathy is your best choice if you need high-quality paraffin or cryostat sections and slides , as well as histological stains. She can help you with your immunohistochemistry, and can also cut plastic sections.

Microscopy and Digital Imaging

Scott generates the highest quality images around, in addition to providing training for your microscopy needs. He has a knack for designing automated microscopy routines and subsequent image analysis macros to enhance and speed up your research.

Proteomics

Benlian can run 2D gels, prep your samples for Mass spec, and provides extremely thorough analysis for all of your proteomic needs!

Coming soon~ Photos of the

Annual VSRC Symposium

held Friday, June 5, 2009

in the Wolstein Research Building

Guest Speaker:

lois smith

Lois E.H. Smith, MD, PhD,, Professor of Ophthalmology,

Harvard Medical School

Retinopathy of Prematurity: A Model for Angiogenesis Studies

VSRC Symposium R.S.V.P. to Janis.kaghazwala@case.edu

8:00 am	*Registration and Poster set-up WRB Lobby*
8:00 am to 8:40am	*Continental Breakfast WRB Lobby*
8:45 am to 9:00 am	Welcome and Opening Remarks WRB Auditorium Jonathan Lass, MD Charles I Thomas Professor and Chairman Case Western Reserve University Director, Case Visual Sciences Research Center Director, University Hospitals Eye Institute Eric Pearlman, PhD Update on VSRC Status & Future Initiatives – Core grant, Training grant
Session I	VSRC Retinal Biology Presentations Moderator: Johnny Tang, MD
9:00 am to 9:15 am	Yoshikazu Imanishi, PhD In vivo two-photon microscopy: Shedding light on the chemistry of vision
9:15 am to 9:30 am	Paul Park, PhD Structural and functional role of rhodopsin palmitylation
9:30 am to 9:45 am	Akiko Maeda, MD, PhD All-trans-retinal and macular degeneration
9:45 am to 10:00 am	Tadao Maeda, MD. PhD Genetic dissection of retinal degeneration
10:00 am to 10:20 am	Irina Pikuleva, PhD Vision through the P450 lens
10:20 am to 10:45 am	*Refreshment Break WRB Lobby*
Session II	VSRC Aging, Diabetes and Infectious Retinopathy Presentations Moderator: Timothy Kern, PhD
10:45 am to 11:00 am	Carlos Subauste, MD Autophagy is required for protection against ocular toxoplasmosis
11:00 am to 11:20 am	Vincent Monnier, MD Metal Catalyzed Oxidation of Human Lens Proteins: Effects of Age, Diabetes and Oxygen
11:20 am to 11:35 am	Susanne Mohr, PhD Diabetes leads to Muller cell loss via pyroptotic mechanisms
11:35 am to 11:50 pm	Ram Nagaraj, PhD The versatile alpha-crystallin: Single or Double Headed?
11:50 pm to 1:00 pm	*Lunch and Poster Session WRB Lobby*
Keynote Speaker 1:00 pm to 2:00pm	Introduction by Ram Nagaraj, PhD Lois Smith, MD, PhD Associate in Ophthalmology, Children’s Hospital, Boston Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School Retinopathy of Prematurity: A Model for Angiogenesis Studies
Session III	Visual Sciences Training Program Trainee Presentations Moderator: Susann Brady-Kalnay, PhD
2:00 pm to 2:15 pm	Philip Kiser Crystal structure of retinoid isomerase (RPE65) provides insights into mechanisms of membrane binding and catalysis
2:15 pm to 2:30 pm	E. Chepchumba Yego Seven in Absentia Homolog-1 (Siah-1) Protein is Necessary for Pro Death GAPDH Nuclear Accumulation in Retinal Müller Cells Under High Glucose Conditions
2:30 pm to 2:45 pm	Alexander Veenstra Turnover of microglia in the retina of diabetic mice
2:45 pm to 3:00pm	*Refreshment Break*
Session IV	VSRC Clinical and Translational Research & Resident Presentations Moderator: Jonathan Lass, MD
3:00 pm to 3:15 pm	Johnny Tang, MD Translational Research: Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
3:15 pm to 3:35 pm	Sudha Iyengar, PhD FECD Genetics Multi-center Study
3:35 pm to :3:50 pm	Loretta Szczotka-Flynn, OD, MS, FAAO Risk Factors for Contact Lens Microbial Contamination
3:50 pm to 4:10pm	Suber Huang, MD, MBA AMD – Frontiers in Translational Medicine
4:10 pm to 4:25 pm	Resident Presentation Rahul Reddy, MD A histopathologic analysis of trasconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy wounds
4:25 pm to 4:40 pm	Resident Presentation Virginia Utz, MD Innate immunity of Staphylococcus aureus keratitis
Closing Remarks	Jonathan Lass, MD
	VSRC Reception and Poster Session WRB Lobby

Mission

This mission of the VSRC is to promote the study of basic and clinical problems of the eye and visual system that may lead to improvements in the prevention and treatment of major blinding disorders in the United States and the world. Through a multidisciplinary and comprehensive research program in vision and ophthalmology involving both basic and clinical departments at Case Western Reserve University, the VSRC seeks to advance the visual sciences at the university and beyond, and promote its efforts to the scientific community and greater community at large.

Goals

The Visual Sciences Research Center (VSRC) was founded at Case Western Reserve University in 1996. The VSRC now comprises a multidisciplinary and comprehensive research program in vision and ophthalmology, with over 30 members in CWRU Departments of Ophthalmology, Anatomy, Biomedical Engineering, Genetics, Medicine, Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Epidemiology/ Biostatistics, Neurology, Neurosciences, Pathology, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Physiology and Biophysics. VSRC scientists study basic and clinical aspects of the eye, and involve four interdisciplinary research theme groups: Aging and Diabetes, Extraocular muscle biology and ocular motility, Ocular development, and Ocular Immunology. The VSRC is supported by a National Eye Institute (NEI) funded, P30 Core Grant headed by Dr. Eric Pearlman, and an NEI T32 Training Grant headed by Dr. Susanne Brady-Kalnay. Links to the Training grant and the P-30 Core functions are on the side bar.

VSRC investigator activity
We are particularly interested in collaborative activity among VSRC investigators, and will shortly have a web page devoted to this. We also request that VSRC investigators update their personal websites, especially with regard to publications, and for those who don’t yet have a link from the VSRC web page www.case.edu/med/vsrc/ , please contact Scott Howell scott.howell@case.edu or Janis Kaghazwala Janis.Kaghazwala@case.edu,to set one up. (Most are on the free site at the Community of Science http://workbench.cos.com/).

This page will be updated at least monthly. Please send any newsworthy items, upcoming vision related seminars etc. to Janis Kaghazwala at Janis.Kaghazwala@case.edu, and any comments or suggestions for the website to eric.pearlman@case.edu. Thank you for your cooperation….

We look forward to your participation in the future of vision research!