The Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) Molecular Biology Shared Resource Laboratory (MBSR) has been operating since 1995 as a core facility. This core initially was developed within the Cancer Center, but was quickly expanded to provide services to other laboratories with the addition of other sources of support. It has operated as a university cost center since 1997, but remains a central and important shared resource for NCCC investigators, who represent a major proportion of its user base. In 2000, proteomics services were added to this shared resource. In 2007 these were split off as the new Proteomics Shared Resource (PRSR) described separately elsewhere. The MBSR provides state-of-the-art molecular biology support including DMA and RNA oligonucleotide synthesis, DMA sequencing, fragment analysis, traditional and real-time PCR services, and various imaging support services for the NCCC membership. The MBSR also collaborates with the Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Genomics, and Biostatistics Shared Resources in providing seamless support for the investigator who is applying these tools for genomic level analyses as part of the Integrative Biology Group (IBG). The MBSR currently provides 54 NCCC members and their laboratories with services which totaled $131 K in chargebacks for FY 2007 ($273K total chargebacks). The NCCC users represented 47% of the total laboratories using this facility at Dartmouth (116 labs total), and their usage constituted 48% of the total usage based on chargeback fees and 44% based on units of use. The total chargebacks for this core were $273 K for FY 2007, and the total operating budget was $597K, requiring $324K in subvention which was derived from the NCCC Core Grant ($57K) and other institutional resources ($267K). This shared resource is requesting a budget of $52,787 from the NCCC Core Grant for the first year of this renewal, representing a level comparable to the current year's support and representing approximately 14% of its total operating budget for FY 2009 of approximately $378K (note that the decrease in subvention support and total budget is due to the splitting of MBSR and PRSR and concomitant reduction in services, costs, and staffing for MBSR). The MBSR continues to add and upgrade instrumentation, including recent upgrades to its DNA sequencing services. It plans to add the new Solexa technology from Agilent in the near future, which will facilitate important laboratory research and allow the NCCC investigators to comprehensively analyze the genetic polymorphisms for the entire genomes of individual cancer patients and thereby provide a means of customizing individual diagnosis and treatment. The overall goal of the MBSR is to continue to provide NCCC researchers with state-of-the-art technical support and services for their cancer research at as low a rate as possible so that they can continue to successfully meet their research objectives individually and collectively.
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