Department of Ophthalmology

Center Core for Vision Research

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Center Core Grant for Vision Research

The National Eye Institute P30EY029220 funded Center Core Grant for Vision Research provides shared resources accessible to a group of independently-funded investigators to enhance their research capabilities and productivity. It also provides an environment conducive to collaborative scientific interactions and inter-disciplinary vision science research focused on advancing knowledge of the visual system and treatments for vision impairment.

Principal Investigator: Mahnaz Shahidi, PhD

Project Coordinator: Joseph Yim (joseph.yim@med.usc.edu)

An eye model

There are three cores available through our Center Core Grant

  • The In Vivo Models and Imaging Core provides participating investigators conducting basic and translational vision research with access to advanced technologies and highly qualified technical support for generating and performing ocular imaging of in vivo models. The Core provides instrumentation and technical expertise for:

    1. Generating and maintaining in vivo models of ocular diseases, performing surgical procedures, obtaining samples for genotyping, and harvesting ocular tissues; and
    2. Enabling investigators to use various in vivo ocular imaging and tissue function testing technologies; and
    3. Training investigators and research staff on the utility and operation of ocular imaging and function testing equipment; and
    4. Consultation regarding the appropriate animal models, surgical and imaging procedures to address research needs of participating investigators.


    Core Faculty/Staff

    Core Director: Sun Young Lee, MD, PhD

    Core Co-Director: Juan Carlos Martinez, MD

    Core Staff:

    Equipment

    Ocular Surgery

    • HMR (available through the Translational Research In Vivo Core)
      • Zeiss Operating Microscope
      • Bausch & Lomb Stellaris PC Surgical System
      • IRIDEX Oculight SL, and IRIDEX Oculight Tx lasers
      • The IRIDEX Oculight Tx (Green 532 nm)
      • Synergetics Photon II Laser System

    Ocular Imaging 

    • MMR 230
      • Heidelberg Spectralis SLO/FA/ICG/OCT/OCTA
      • Halo 275 visible-light OCT
      • Verasonic Vantage 64 LE Ultrasound System
      • Konica Minolta HS2
      • LipiView II Ocular Surface Interferometer
    • MCA 345
      • Micron IV
    • HMR (available through the Translational Research In Vivo Core)
      • Heidelberg Spectralis OCT (anterior and posterior segment)
      • Heidelberg HRT3 OCT (anterior segment, cornea)
      • Bioptigen/Leica Envisu R2210 SD-OCT (with mouse lens)
      • Rodent Alignment Stage
      • OTI Scan 1000 Ophthalmic Ultrasound Tomography
      • Heine Omega Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope
      • Haag Streit Slit Lamp
      • OcuMetrics Fluorotron Fluorophotometer

    Visual Function Assessment

    • HMR (available through the Translational Research In Vivo Core)
      • OcuScience HMsERG
      • NS-Quanta OCT Integrated Laser & ERG/VEP System
    • MCA B4A
      • Diagnosys Celeris Full-Field Stimulators (ERG)
      • Striatech OptoDrum

    Multiphoton Imaging

    Image Processing

  • The Cell & Tissue Imaging and Data Science Core enhances the activities and accomplishments of ongoing research projects by providing resources that will increase innovative capabilities and create an environment conducive to productive collaborative vision science research. It provides essential resources for microscopic evaluation of ocular tissues and increase the innovative capabilities of participating investigators for conducting productive basic and translational vision research. The Core provides equipment and technical expertise for:

    1. Performing histology of ocular tissue specimens; and
    2. Enabling investigators to evaluate ocular tissues with the use of sophisticated light/confocal and electron microscopy and emerging imaging modalities; and
    3. Training investigators and their research staff on the utility and operation of cell and tissue imaging equipment; and
    4. Consultations on cell and tissue preparation and imaging for experimental design and appropriateness of techniques to achieve research goals; and
    5. Providing expert technical support to develop algorithms for training of AI models, evaluate the performance of AI models, and validate their applicability.


    Core Faculty/Staff

    Core Director: Sarah Hamm-Alvarez, PhD

    Core Co-Director: Benjamin Xu, MD, PhD

    Core Staff:

    • Research Specialist: Anne Jokiaho (jokiaho@usc.edu)
    • Research Specialist: Xiaopeng Wang
    • Research Specialist: Jayanth Kumar Mallapu

    Equipment

    Optical Microscopy

    • MCA B4
      • Zeiss AXIO Imager.A2 upright transmitted light and fluorescent microscope
      • Zeiss Axioscan 7 Slide Scanner
      • Axiocam 305 Digital Camera and Computer Workstation
      • Keyence BZ-X800E
      • Ibidi Stage Top Incubators
    • MCA 348
      • TiYo Autofluorescence Quenching System
    • MCA 349
      • Zeiss LSM 800 Airyscan (3-Channel System) Modular Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope with Upgraded Microscopy Workstation (HPZ8G5; 2025) and ZEN 3.12 Software

    Stem Cell Culture Laboratory

    • MCA 341A
      • Class II Biosafety Cabinets (x2)
      • Olympus SZX16 Stereomicroscope
      • VWR Mega Star 1.6L Refrigerated Centrifuge Cell Culture TX-400
      • Top-Freezer Refrigerator

    Histology Laboratory

    • MMR 218
      • Leica RM2125RT Microtome
      • Leica TP1020 Tissue Processor
      • Leica EG1150 H+C Embedding Station
      • Leica CM Microscope
      • Cryostats (International equipment company Minotome, Reichert Histostat)
      • Leica Ultracut R Microtome
      • Leica Dissecting Microscope MZ16 with DC camera and computer imaging station

    Electron Microscopy

    • MCB (available through the USC Core Center of Excellence in Nano Imaging)
      • Helios G4 PFIB UXe DualBeam FIB/SEM
      • JSM 7001F Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope
      • Nova NanoSEM 450 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope
      • JEM-2100F Transmission Electron Microscope
      • FEI Talos F200C G2 Biological Transmission Electron Microscope

    Optical Imaging 

    • BCC 212 (available through the USC Optical Imaging Facility)
      • Confocal Microscope
        • Leica SP-8X with Digital Light Sheet (DLS) (inverted configuration)
        • Leica SP-8X with Multiphoton Laser (upright configuration)
        • Zeiss LSM 780 AxioObserver.Z1 (inverted configuration)
        • Zeiss LSM 800 AxioObserver.M2 (upright configuration)
      • Widefield Microscope
        • Leica Thunder Computational Clearing (inverted configuration)
        • Zeiss AxioImager.A1 (upright configuration)
        • Zeiss AxioObserver.A1 and Axiovert 200 (inverted configuration)
        • Zeiss AxioZoom .v16
      • Zeiss AxioScan.z1 Slide Scanner

    Image Processing

    Translational Imaging Center 

    • MCB (available through the Translational Imaging Center)
      • Two-Photon single plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) Light Sheet Imager
      • Hyperspectral Phasor Imaging (HPI)
      • Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM)

  • The Ophthalmic Therapeutics Engineering Core provides essential resources to facilitate translational vision science and technology research for development of new therapies for ocular diseases. The Core supports instrumentation and technical expertise in molecular engineering required to characterize molecular nano-assemblies designed to carry drugs coupled with expertise in device engineering for their targeted delivery or direct therapeutic applications. The Core provides instrumentation and technical expertise for:

    1. Developing, characterizing and optimizing biological, chemical, or mechanical drug delivery systems; and
    2. Designing and fabricating custom devices and instruments that can improve or advance experimental procedures and research capabilities of investigators, particularly those involving delivery of therapeutics; and
    3. Training investigators on the utility and operation of available instrumentation for the design and characterization of therapeutic drug delivery vehicles and devices; and
    4. Consultations on the experimental design, appropriateness of the specific techniques, and integration of engineering techniques to escalate the progress of vision research projects.


    Core Faculty/Staff

    Core Director: Qifa Zhou, PhD

    Core Co-Director: Andrew MacKay, PhD

    Core Staff:

    • Research Specialist: Anne Jokiaho (jokiaho@usc.edu)
    • Research Specialist: Jie Ji

    Equipment

    Ocular Biochemistry Laboratory

    • MCA B4
      • Molecular Devices SpectraMax iD5 Plate Reader
    • MCA 343
      • Cold Room
    • MCA 347
      • Life Technologies QuantStudio 6 Flex rt-qPCR
      • Agilent 1260 Infinity II analytical High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipped with an autosampler, UV-Vis multi-channel detector and fluorescence multi-channel detector
      • Particle Metrix ZetaView Particle Tracking Analyzer for hydrodynamic particle size, zeta potential and concentration analysis
      • Li-Cor Odyssey Fc ChemiDoc XRS system (multicolor fluorescent imaging system capable of imaging direct chemiluminescence, chemi-fluorescence and densitometric analysis)
      • NanoFCM U30 Dual Laser Flow NanoAnalyzer for nanoparticle detection and characterization
      • Nanodrop One C UV-Vis Spectrophotometer for quantifying and qualifying DNA, RNA and protein samples.
      • NanoAssemblr Spark to formulate nanoparticles
      • Qiagen QIAcuity One Digital PCR
      • Beckman Coulter XPN-80 Preparative Ultracentrifuge
      • Assorted preparative and analytical centrifuges
      • Microcentrifuges and other small equipment for biochemical and molecular biological analysis
      • Thermo Fisher Flammable Materials Refrigerator/Freezer
      • INTEGRA VIAFLO ASSIST Electronic Pipette for automated dispensing of reagents
      • Wet Laboratory Space
    • MCA 349
      • De-ionized water system (Milli-Q)
      • Temperature-controlled shaking bacterial incubator (MaxQ6000, Thermo-Scientific)
    • MMR 206
      • Cold Room
    • MMR 213
      • ChemiDoc XRS System (multicolor fluorescent imaging system capable of imaging direct chemiluminescence, chemi-fluorescence and densitometric analysis)
    • MMR 214
      • Tissue Culture Space with Biosafety Hoods and Incubators
    • MMR 313
      • Ultra-low temperature freezer with liquid N2 backup (REVCO ULTIMA II -150°C)
      • Low temperature freezers (-80°C)
      • Ice Machine and Dry Ice supply

    Stem Cell Culture Laboratory

    • MCA 351A
      • Memmert ICO 150 K7 T6 CO2 Incubator with humidity and O2 control
      • Tissue Culture Space with Biosafety Hoods

    Ocular Ultrasound Laboratory

    • MMR 130
      • Ultrasound High-Resolution Elastographic System
      • Portable Ultrasound Vision Systems
      • Verasonics Vantage 128 Ultrasound System

    Ex Vivo Testing Laboratory

    Electronics Shop

    • HC4 6th Floor (available through the USC Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics)
      • Bose Electroforce 3100 mechanical measurement system
      • Keithley Electrometer 6517A
      • Tektronix TDS 5034B 4 channel storage oscilloscope
      • A-M System 2200 pulse generator
      • Agilent Precision LCR meter 4980A
      • Signatone Probe Station
      • Gamry Reference 600 and FAS1 Potentiostats
      • Princeton Applied Research 273A electrochemical potentiostat
      • Zwick Zwickiline (for Flexible Low-Force Testing) 500N
      • Power supplies, multi-meters, function generators

    Machine Shop

    Nanobiophysical Core Laboratory

    • AHF-B15 (available through the USC NanoBiophysics Center)
      • Biacore T100 surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument
      • Size exclusion chromatography multiangle light scattering (SEC MALS) (Wyatt)
      • Spectrofluorometer QuantaMaster 4 (PTI) with time-resolved accessories
      • Nanoscope IIIa Atomic Force Microscope
      • MicroCal isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC)

    School of Pharmacy Core Facilities

    • PSC (available through the USC School of Pharmacy Core)
      • 4 Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometers (LC-MS) electrospray systems
      • DynaPro2 (Wyatt)
      • Circular Dichroism Spectophotometer J-815 (Jasco)
      • Jobin Yvon Fluorolog-3 (Horiba)