Funds for an Applied Biosystems Inc. 3100 16 Capillary DNA Analyzer and manufacturer recommended accessories are requested. It will become the principle instrument for the DNA sequencing & analysis services provided by the MMI Research Core Facility (www.ohsu.edu/research/core). This well established core facility provides DNA sequencing services to more than 100 basic medical science researchers in >20 departments and institutes at the Oregon Health & Science University. It also provides DNA sequencing services to 7 local colleges and institutions in the Portland area. The progress of more than 175 NIH funded biomedical research projects will be improved by the acquisition of the requested instrument. Some specific examples include Brian Druker's work identifying new kinase targets in acute myeloid leukemia, D. Farrell's investigation of the regulation and function of human fibrinogen isoforms associated with coronary heart disease, F. Heffron's studies of bacterial pathogenicity islands, markers for susceptibility to autoimmune disease in D. Kabat's lab, G. Burrows' work in developing MHC class II constructs for autoimmune therapy, P. Stork's studies of the role of the small G protein, Rap1, in regulating the MAP kinase activation pathway in T lymphocytes, P. Rotwein's studies insulin-like growth factors and the differentiation of muscle, and G. Banker's studies on the membrane trafficking and the development of neuronal polarity. The increased throughput and improved turnaround time achieved with the 3100 will also contribute significantly to new projects needing high-throughput SNP and fragment analysis for genotyping. The core facility has a full-time PhD director, a full-time senior technician and two part time technicians. Data management systems are well established. Institutional support is provided by the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology Department, the Oregon Cancer Institute, and the School of Medicine and the OHSU Office of Research.
