In response to a ground-roots faculty effort, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn) is establishing a new Screening Core in 2014. The mission of the Core is to facilitate broadly the use of high-throughput screening approaches as a mechanism to drive innovative research for Penn investigators. The ability to efficiently and economically screen small molecules and genetic libraries including siRNAs, shRNAs, miRNAs and cDNA libraries will undoubtedly reveal new targets for interventions. A cornerstone of this Core is the Janus Workstation liquid handling delivery robot, which is essential to the Core function and mission. The Core is overseen by Dr. Sara Cherry (Scientific Director) and will be managed by a Technical Director (TBN). Penn will provide all other necessary resources for start-up and operation. Users will be charged a fee for instrument use and funds generated will be cycled back into the Core operations. The Core will thus coalesce all of the equipment required for high throughput screening and will contribute to the research of the 4 major and 15 minor users, each of whom are NIH-funded - with a total of 55 grants and $21M in support overall. Use of this equipment will reveal new insights into biology, generate new biological tool compounds, and directly advance translational medicine at Penn.
