CI. 1 Rationale. The Light Microscopy Core (LMC; see www.uchsc.edu/liqhtmicroscopv) has proven to be a highly useful, successful multi-user (42 total, see Appendix Item 4) facility offering five state-of-the-art instruments. New technologies continually emerge, and we have an exciting opportunity nearly to double the size of the LMC with new, advanced instrumentation and technical expertise. We propose to combine with a facility in the Renal Division of the Department of Medicine, which has been developed by Dr. Moshe Levi (Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics; Vice Chair of Medicine for Research). Until recently, the two facilities were entirely separate, in terms of instrumentation, space, users, administration, and funding. This situation arose because the Health Sciences Center built and moved to an entirely new $2.2B campus. The move occurred over about six years and was completed in January 2009. The LMC was one of the first to move, while the Department of Medicine Core was one of the last. Thus, for about five years the two cores operated entirely independently. Now that they are on the same campus (in adjacent buildings connected by a heated bridge), we have an opportunity to combine them, and make available to RMNDC users new instruments, at no additional chiarge to them. In addition, a campus-wide quinquennial Research Retreat is scheduled for November, 2009, and Light Microscopy has been selected by the central administration as one of three areas identified for special consideration. The likely upshot will be significant investment of intramural funds by the School of Medicine in the new, combined core. Dr. Betz is co-chair with Dr. Levi of the committee charged with presenting a long range plan at the Retreat. While still in the planning stages, a major goal is the purchase of new advanced instruments. Already his committee has identified several instruments of interest to multiple users (e.g., advanced spinning disk microscope with microlens illumination, STimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscope).