# Functional Visual Core (Core D)

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $222,806

## Abstract

CORE D: Abstract 
 The foremost objective of the Structural and Functional Visualization Core is to provide state of the art 
imaging services to the IDDRC community, including both conventional and confocal microscopy, whole 
animal MRI acquisition and analysis support. To attain this goal, the core has been redesigned to provide 
comprehensive imaging services for IDDRC researchers working at on any aspect of the genetic and 
environmentally-induced developmental diseases affecting nervous system development and function. The 
research ongoing in the IDDRC spans basic scientists using reductionist approaches to elucidate the 
mechanisms specific to intellectual developmental disabilities (IDDs) to clinicians assessing therapeutic 
interventions for patients. To accommodate all of their imaging requirements, we are now providing access 
to three light microscopy cores, including a microscopy suite dedicated to IDDRC researchers, two MRI 
facilities and the technical support needed to initiate and complete any imaging analysis. Many IDDRC 
researchers have imaging systems within their own laboratories, however they are often insufficient to meet 
their demand and are never comprehensive. Being able to access the IDDRC-supported microscopy cores 
thus both adds capacity and provides technical resources not otherwise available, permitting researchers to 
refocus their studies in novel and innovative directions. 
 A second key objective of the Structural and Functional Visualization Core is to develop new 
technologies for visualizing biological samples and in turn provide them to IDDRC researchers. Here, we 
focus on [1] developing smaller lighter one-photon miniaturized fluorescent microscopes for live imaging 
neural activity in freely moving animals (1-3) and [2] refining the methods for CLARITY, a protocol that 
renders tissue transparent (4, 5), thereby permitting unparalleled visual acuity into the complex circuitry of 
the brain. These techniques offer the promise of a holistic approach to cutting edge imaging, permitting 
IDDRC researchers to translate mechanism into therapy. For example, researchers investigating a specific 
intellectual disorder, such as Dup15q syndrome (see model project), will be able perform MRI on patients to 
identify the affected region of 
the brain, implant miniaturized microscopes in rodent models to perform in vivo i m a g i n g to examine how 
the firing patterns of specific populations of neuron are mechanistically altered by the disease, while 
concomitantly examining putative aberrant circuit formation using light microscopy coupled with CLARITY. 
 Finally, this core also supports the efforts of all the other cores, offering IDDRC researchers the 
ability to both probe molecular and cellular function at any level from the sub-cellular to living animals 
and determine the consequence of therapeutic interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9836707
- **Project number:** 5U54HD087101-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** SAMANTHA J BUTLER
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $222,806
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2020-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9836707

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9836707, Functional Visual Core (Core D) (5U54HD087101-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9836707. Licensed CC0.

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