The Immunology Core Facility (ICF) proposed for the Midwestern RCE currently serves the facultyat the University of Chicago by providing access to state-of-the-art immunological technologies andquantitative analytical approaches to measure molecular, cellular and tissue function. Forconsortium members, development of new immune-based therapies, such as vaccines and novelcytokines, requires careful monitoring of scientific endpoints to determine the optimal biologicallyactive dose and schedule of these agents. The ICF represents an established facility with expertisein handling human and mouse cells and tissues for the purpose of monitoring and evaluatingimmunological responses. This multi-parameter immunologic analysis will provide researchers withstate-of-the-art assays for determining the efficacy of pre-clinical and clinical therapies againsttargeted infectious agents. The ICF currently provides a wide variety of services and expertise toits users. For basic science research, the facility is utilized by researchers in many different areasof study for investigation of cellular structure/function, as well as for translational research in clinicalapplications and molecular medicine. The facility specializes in immunohistochemistry for cellulardetection within the context of the surrounding tissue, and generation and production of novelmonoclonal antibodies necessary for the detection of cells and subcellular components. The ICFalso has an expert flow cytometry group for the analytical detection and sorting of single cellsuspensions and subcellular components using multi-parameter fluorescence technology. Forclinical trials in human patients, the ICF performs assays to monitor immune responses. Thisservice enables clinical researchers to measure immunologic endpoints in participating studysubjects. The endpoint assays are primarily focused on human T cell responses, but include arange of other immunological readouts. Thus, the ICF can provide consortium members withexpert immunologic monitoring capabilities with which to carry out research and developmentalprojects.
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