Vision research at UC Davis is supported in part by an NEI vision core grant that provides equipment and service modules that are too large or otherwise impractical for ownership or maintenance by individual laboratories. The Core Grant supports four common-use facilities for vision researchers: a multi-neuron recording core, a histology and electron microscopy core facility, a machine shop for custom fabrication of prototypical devices, and a retinal tissue culture module that provides sterile facilities and confocal microscopes for culturing and imaging cells in vitro.

NIH support is available for the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in a wide range of techniques and topics, including genetics of ocular disease, live cell imaging, physiology and behavior, computational modeling, functional neuroimaging, optics, biomedical engineering, and psychophysics. The primary goal of this training program is to provide Trainees a rigorous foundation in both the fundamental scientific basis and the clinical relevance of vision science, in order to broaden the perspective and skills of future vision scientists.

In addition to the core and training grants, the CVS benefits greatly from individual donations. Donated funds help support student travel awards to vision conferences as well as local student seminars and presentations.