Integrative Biology Core The goal of the Integrative Biology Core of the Botanical Research Center is to provide technological expertise to the three research projects, the Botanical Core, and the Pilot Research Program of the Center. The main objective of applying the methodologies supported by the IBC - animal research, analytical chemistry, cell imaging, and genomics ? is to understand the physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms underlying the phenotype of `botano-metabolic resiliency': the ability of botanicals promote resistance to stressors arising from an obesogenic environment, and to maintain health despite these challenges. The four components of the Core will serve the Center in the following ways: (i) the Animal Research Subcore will provide the pertinent pre-clinical botanical exposure paradigms for each of the three research projects, and will leverage expertise in small animal metabolic phenotyping, including food intake, body composition, and indirect calorimetry. (ii) The Analytical Chemistry Subcore will offer expertise in high-throughput multiplex clinical chemistry, and thereby provide the biochemical measurements to accompany the physiological results. (iii) The Cell Imaging Subcore will assist in testing the effects of botanicals on specific cell types, with particular focus on botanical-elicited modulation of insulin sensitivity, and intracellular calcium as a primary regulator of cell function. (iv) The Genomics Subcore will provide the scientific and technical basis for botanical-gene interaction experiments, with the goal to measure the effects of botanicals on gene expression repertoires, botanical-chromatin interaction assays to determine the effects on gene regulation, and botanical-gut microbiome interactions to elucidate how botanicals act to shape the microbial communities of the digestive system, a critical contributor to metabolic health. Biostatistics, bioinformatics, and systems biology expertise for genomics experiments will be provided in collaboration with the Administrative Core. The components of the IBC are functionally integrated within the overall infrastructure of the BRC, and collaborate with the Administrative Core, the Botanical Core, and the three Project leaders and their staff from the experimental design to the data analysis and interpretation stage. This concerted effort will be critical to develop a new understanding how botanical extracts promote resilience to an obesogenic environment.
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