This award provides continued support for a hybridoma facility at the University of Texas at Austin. The facility makes hybidoma and monoclonal antibody production technology available to individual researchers at the University, regardless of their departmental affiliation. The facility performs immunization, cell fusion, cloning and antibody production. The individual researchers are responsible for the specialized assays needed for hybidoma screening and antibody characterization. Central facilities which provide both service and expert advice with respect to specialized research techniques like hybridoma production and the sequencing or synthesis of protein and DNA have become important ingredients of modern research universities. The specialized reagents they supply are needed for state of the art research in many areas of the life sciences. The cost of the equipment and technical help necessary for successful application of the techniques involved are generally for beyond the financial resources of an individual research program, and often beyond the combined resources of all users of the facility in the university, especially in the first few years of the facility's existence. During this period, when the user community is learning how to incorporate the new resource into its research programs, some financial support beyond that provided by user fees is often crucial to the facility's survival. This award helps provide such support for the UT Austin facility.
