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Core Facilities The Molecular Neurobiology Core Facility: The molecular neurobiology core facility provides access to the neuroscience faculty on both the Health Science and Belknap campuses, as well as to researchers in other colleges and universities throughout the state. In addition to providing services, this core provides opportunities for collaborative interactions. Dr. Nigel Cooper is the director of this core. Dr. Abdelnaby Khalyfa provides the day to day management and expertise related to gene-arrays services, research assistant Xiaohong Li provides technical and sequencing support. In addition, this core also has strong interactions with Bioinformatics Research and Biostatistical Analysis Groups which are developing on the Health Sciences and Main Campuses. Dr. Cooper works closely with Dr. Eric Rouchka in the Computer Sciences Department to develop the necessary bioinformatics tools and resources. The Core provides workshops for the institutional community and recently co-sponsored with the neurogenomics group in Tennessee, a bioinformatics summit. The Molecular Neurobiology Core Facility has a Beckman automated capillary nucleic acid sequencer and provides a standard fee-for-service to users. The laboratory is equipped with a Robotic Liquid Handler, Packard BioChip Arrayer, and Lucidea Slidepro hybridizing station. Staff can provide assistance to faculty in the design, printing, hybridization and/or analysis of custom gene-arrays. The core also contains a Bioanalyzer 2100 (Agilent) and Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystem) as well as additional thermal cyclers (DNA engine tetrad) and we are able to provide RNA extraction, analysis, and PCR support. The facility staff have extensive experience in the use of many commercial gene-array platforms including: Agilent, CodeLink and Affymetrix gene arrays, and they can provide advice as to the use of these platforms as well as hybridization and/or analytic services.The core has a Typhoon 9410 laser scanner (Amersham) for image capture and for digitizing arrays, and a phosphorimager. Also, the core has a Beowulf multiprocessor computing facility located on the Main Campus, on which various bioinformatics resources are made available. The Electron Microscope Core Facility: The Department of Anatomical Sciences has a well maintained electron microscope facility that is used by faculty and students throughout the institution on a fee-for-service basis. The Director of this facility is Dr. Ferrell Campbell, and day to day operations are managed by Senior Electron-Microscopist, Cathie Caple. The facility contains several microscopes including: (a) Philips CM-12 Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM), with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), elemental mapping, and digital image acquisition. The microscope has a goniometer stage with tilt-rotation and low background holders. Electron diffraction studies are routinely performed on this instrument. (b)Two Philips CM-10 Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM). These are used by trained microscopists for routine micrographs. Both microscopes have goniometer stages. (c) Philips 505 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), with EDS and a PC based digital frame grabber. The Confocal Microscope Core Facility: The Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology has a Leica 4D Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope. This microscope has the ability of optically sectioning biological specimens, obtaining fluorescent images, and doing 3D reconstruction. The microscope has 4 channels, an argon-krypton laser, and a UV laser. The microscope also has DIC and transmitted light detection capability. The images are stored digitally and manipulated using a separate pentium-based workstation. The facility is managed by George Harding, who is available full time for training and assistance. The Neuroscience Imaging Core Facility: This facility was established to provide state of the art imaging technology, analysis software, and an imaging database to neuroscience students and researchers in the neuroscience program, and to develop collaborative interactions between researchers. High-end instrumentation for acquisition and analysis of optical data is expensive and requires continued maintenance and improvements. The required commitment to this technology is often difficult to maintain within individual laboratories, especially when optical imaging is not a major focus for the laboratory. Therefore, the Neuro-Imaging Core fills a critical need at the Health Science Center by housing state of the art technology, by providing continued maintenance of the equipment, and by offering training and technical advice to students and researchers. The Neuro-Imaging Core provides members of the neuroscience program a facility with both routine and advanced capabilities in the visualization, quantification, and interpretation of structural components in tissues and cells. The facility director, Dr. Breck Carden, maintains the equipment, monitors the usage and assists with image database development. The Core provides the following equipment, software and assistance:
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