The Vanderbilt Vision Research Center is entering its third decade of supporting vision research across the university and medical center with the renewal of its core grant and recognition at key national conferences.

“The vision research center plays a crucial role in supporting the research of our faculty and students,” Provost Richard McCarty said. “Vision research is one of the core strengths of our university and we are very proud of the special recognition for this outstanding group of faculty and trainees.”

The VVRC is primarily funded by a core grant from the National Eye Institute that was recently renewed for an additional five years. Jeffrey Schall, E. Bronson Ingram Chair of Neuroscience, directs the center.

VVRC investigator Paul Sternberg, George W. Hale Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, was recognized as an Inaugural Gold Fellow at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology’s annual meeting May 3-7 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. John S. Penn, Phyllis G. and William B. Snyder Professor, vice chairman of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and assistant dean of faculty development, was elected to the ARVO Board of Trustees. In all, Vanderbilt researchers were responsible for 67 different research presentations at the meeting. 

VVRC faculty and students also participated in and were recognized at the Vision Sciences Society’s annual conference in Naples, Fla., May 8-13. Frank Tong, professor of psychology, received the organization’s 2009 Young Investigator Award. Graduate students Stephanie Harrison and Walter Jermakowicz received competitive student travel awards. Schall participated in a symposium on dynamic processes in vision. Overall, Vanderbilt researchers were responsible for 29 different research presentations at the meeting.

The VVRC promotes research and training on a wide range of problems in vision science including: visually guided behavior and cognition; neural processes underlying visually guided behavior; comparative anatomy and physiology of visual systems; development and plasticity of the visual systems; molecular mechanisms in the eye; diagnosis and treatment of vision disorders and machine vision.

For more information about the VVRC, visit http://vision-research.vanderbilt.edu.