# Instrumentation Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $102,370

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: INSTRUMENTATION SERVICE 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. These cellular- and systems-level investigations require
access to expert design, fabrication, digital programming and maintenance of custom equipment and interface
systems, especially for the use of rodents, non-human primates, and human experimentation. The purpose of
the VVRC Instrumentation Module is to is to provide a comprehensive service for the design, fabrication,
maintenance, repair, and interfacing of equipment to ensure the integrity of ongoing experimentation requiring
custom services either unavailable commercially or prohibitively expensive. The Instrumentation Module
provides expert machine shop fabrication of custom equipment and works closely with investigator-hired
electronics and systems engineers for digital interfacing of equipment. This module is a VVRC-intrinsic core
and service is provided to VVRC members by request and not through the VUMC Office of Research
scholarship platform. In the current funding period, the instrumentation module contributed resources in
support of 157 publications by 22 VVRC members, 9 of whom are current NEI R01 holders. These are
indicated as such in our Progress Report Core Publications by Investigator document. A survey of researcher
plans indicates that the use of this service will increase, with moderate to extensive use by 12 of 16 current NEI
R01 holders and 22 of 52 total VVRC members. The instrumentation module, housed in 2000 sq ft of machine
shop in the Hobbs Building proximal to VVRC investigators with additional electronics shop space (160 sq ft) in
Wilson Hall near primary users, is directed by VVRC Investigator Christos Constantinidis, PhD. Using this
space and personnel supported in part by this Core mechanism, the VVRC Instrumentation Module will: (1)
design and fabricate custom equipment, (2) design, fabricate and program custom interface systems, (3)
maintain and repair existing equipment in VVRC laboratories, and (4) modify and refine equipment and
interface components as VVRC faculty needs evolve. These services and resources will enhance the scope of
experimentation NEI-funded VVRC investigators conduct, promote innovation through creation of specialized
equipment and interface components, and enhance collaboration by providing instrumentation support to those
who otherwise would not have such capabilities, including early-career vision scientists and clinician-scientists
competing for extramural funding for their laboratories.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10939142
- **Project number:** 2P30EY008126-37
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOS CONSTANTINIDIS
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $102,370
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1997-04-01 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10939142

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10939142, Instrumentation Core (2P30EY008126-37). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10939142. Licensed CC0.

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