# Animal Services

> **NIH NIH P30** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $65,719

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: ANIMAL SERVICES MODULE
 The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC) includes faculty investigators with strong interest in
discerning relationships between visual circuits and behavior, between cortical structures and physiology, and
between brain regions and perception/behavior in non-human primate and prosimian species. These
cognitive- and systems-level investigations require access to expert veterinary husbandry and surgical skills,
especially for longitudinal studies requiring use of the same animal cohort over many months. The purpose of
the VVRC Instrumentation Module is to provide a comprehensive veterinary service for support of vision
research using non-human primates that is not covered by staff members supported by individual grants. This
module is a VVRC-intrinsic core, housed in Wilson Hall and administered through the Department of
Psychology, and is not part of a VUMC institutional facility; therefore, the service is provided to VVRC
members by request and not through the VUMC Office of Research scholarship platform. In the current funding
period the animal module contributed resources in support of 11 investigators with 55 publications resulting
from use of the service. These are indicated as such in our Progress Report Core Publications by Investigator
document. Availability of this module during the current period saved VVRC investigators over $240,905 in
veterinary technician and facility costs that otherwise would have to be obtained elsewhere. A survey of
researcher plans indicates that the use of this service will increase, with moderate to extensive use by 14 of 36
VVRC investigators. The Animal Services Module, housed in Wilson Hall near primary users, is directed by
VVRC Investigator Jeff Schall, PhD. Using this space and personnel supported by this Core mechanism, the
VVRC Animal Services Module will: (1) provide expert assistance with nonhuman primate surgical procedures,
(2) provide training on best, aseptic, nonhuman primate surgical practices, and (3) support breeding of
prosimian species used for vision research. These services and resources will enhance the scope of
experimentation NEI-funded VVRC investigators conduct, promote innovation through specialized veterinary
procedures to those who otherwise would not have such capabilities, including early-career vision scientists
competing for extramural funding for their laboratories and established investigators who rely upon the use of
non-human primates for their research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017245
- **Project number:** 5P30EY008126-33
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeffrey D Schall
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $65,719
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-04-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017245

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017245, Animal Services (5P30EY008126-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017245. Licensed CC0.

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