The Core Facility to be renovated, the University of New Mexico Center for Molecular Discovery, represents a one of a kind sustainable facility (technologically, financially, architecturally) that will have local, regional, national and international impact. In addition to its innovative role in flow cytometry, it will fill a role in small molecule discovery as the most prominent integrated HTS facility in the world specializing in flow cytometry. It supports individual investigators, partners with >10 centers in New Mexico and around the country as well as with several training grants (>$2M annual funding). Local users are supported by $7M in direct annual funding whereas small molecule partners are supported by >$22M annually, with >$11M annual pending funding. Through its active outreach effort, typically >20 projects are in development, screening or follow-up at any given time. The HyperCyt flow cytometry platform is uniquely suited to multiplexing of cellular and molecular targets, and fills a unique niche for complex cell suspension discovery for leukocytes (e.g., leukemia and immunological responses), hematopoietic stem cells, yeast, bacteria, and real-time virus-cell interaction. The platform is supported by: 1) its inventors (facility director Larry Sklar and HTS leader Bruce Edwards;2) an instrumentation R01 to Edwards (HG006066) for enhancing the platform to1536 well plate and direct sample delivery;3) a local startup company (IntelliCyt) improving the platform of which the inventors are founders: and 4) an international distribution agreement by Beckman Coulter.
The specific aims are to achieve: 1) Space Integration - the renovated Core Facility will integrate activities from 10 different locations 2) Functional Integration - the renovated Core Facility brings together conventional flow cytometry, HTS, Target Development, Cheminformatics and Medicinal Chemistry. Contiguous space is also provided for partnerships in yeast, bacteria, virus and mammalian cell targets with a specialization in integrins and cell adhesion;3) Enhanced Capacity and Throughput - the requested instrumentation will increase the range and complexity of the targets for small molecule discovery, as well as the number of targets and the rate of target screening. 4) Enhanced Technology Development - the renovation will support already funded instrumentation innovation by Edwards R01 and collaboration with IntelliCyt for improved data acquisition and analysis;5) Enhanced Opportunities - the Discovery Center renovation project enables the occupancy of 14,000 sq ft of the 2nd floor of a vacated building. Without additional costs, the proposed improvements will enable occupancy of the adjacent 14,000 sq ft on the 3rd floor. Investigators with common interests and industrial contacts will partner in small molecule discovery and development in related disciplines to sustain the Core Facility.
