The Tissue Culture/Biomechanical Core (Core B) will provide critical support to Program ProjectInvestigators while serving as a resource center and mechanism of integration between the five Projects.The Core facility will serve as a centralized resource unit providing laboratory personnel, expertise, andequipment to meet all human and murine endothelial cell needs for projects in the program. As all the fiveprojects and Core D share a common theme of endothelial barrier regulation by the cytoskeleton, the majoremphasis of this core will be to culture primary human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs), humanlung microvascular endothelial cells (HLMVECs), and isolate lung microvascular endothelial cells fromvarious transgenic and genetically-altered murine models. The core has well trained personnel to process allthe cell culture work and isolate lung microvascular ECs from murine models. The expertise and training wehave developed during the last two cycles of this program project have defined the most effectivemechanisms for culturing endothelial cells to assess permeability changes and/or pathologies. Anothercritical function of this Core will be facilitate experiments with cyclic stretch and atomic force microscopy(Core D) using dedicated instrumentation, computers and software systems. The close proximity of thetissue culture, biophysical and atomic force microscopy facilities will foster interaction between theinvestigators to develop and design experiments and interpret the reults. This will provide a uniqueenvironment where cell culture/biomechanical models and microscopic techniques will be refined andtailored to specific scientific needs of the projects. Thus, the tissue culture/biomechanical core facility is anintegral component of the program project that ensures the most effective and economical use of theresources and expertise to meet the goals for each project.
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