PROJECT SUMMARY Support is requested for 15 profession optometry graduate students to participate in short-term training in vision research upon successful completion of their first year of optometry school. The training will be conducted by established vision researchers and clinical scientists in the School of Optometry at UC Berkeley, and who are also members of its Graduate Program in Vision Science. Trainees will each complete one short-term training program, during the summer months following completion of their first year of optometry school. The long-term goal of this program is to encourage clinicians to pursue advanced research training and/or continue involvement in research after completion of their professional training. Thus the training program is designed to attract talented students to clinical and/or translational research by developing their interest, awareness and enthusiasm for a career in biomedical or behavioral research. Optometry schools from across the US, including Puerto Rico, are targets of our recruitment efforts aimed at attracting a diverse pool of talented students to our program. Training will be provided within the laboratories of 23 mentors in the School of Optometry, where currently 39 pre-doctoral students and approximately 70 postdoctoral fellows are involved in vision and eye-related research, through the Graduate Program in Vision Science in the former case. The multidisciplinary nature of this program is also reflected in engagement of mentors in the training of graduate students from other disciplines among which are molecular and cell biology, immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, psychology and bioengineering. Over the past 23 years, the Short Term Training for Optometry Students training program has attracted many clinicians to the PhD program in Vision Science, supported by an NIH/NEI T32 Training grant (Program in Vision Research). This interdisciplinary research program in Vision Science has been in existence for over 70 years on the Berkeley campus and over this period has trained and graduated 241 trainees mostly with PhD degrees. The majority of these graduates are now actively engaged in vision research on a professional level. The same mentors that train PhD students have also mentored and will continue to mentor optometry students undertaking short- term training via the NIH/NEI T35 grant for which renewal is being sought in this application. A wide range of basic science as well as clinical research is on-going in the laboratories of these potential mentors, offering numerous, equally wide-ranging research opportunities for the short- term trainees.