FACILITIES AVAILABLE Our five laboratories are adequate to carry out the specific five projects as requested. There are in addition a number of collective facilities, which we share. The labs have a media kitchen with approximately 600 sq. ft. of space dedicated to preparation of Drosophila media and worm plates. Artificial seawater is also produced by this facility. The kitchen currently contains its own autoclave, office, and storage facilities. In addition, the labs share a special space in the basement of the Bassine building (""""""""the pit"""""""": approximately 1000 sq. ft.) in which several fly incubators are housed that are used to monitor circadian and thermal activity. The light tight and constant temperature nature of this space makes it optimal for entrainment in constant dark as well as controlled light-dark and temperature conditions. This is where much of the behavioral monitoring takes place. In addition to this there is a 60 sq ft. temperature and humidity controlled Harris room in the Garrity/Griffith space that is used for cold behavior and learning. All of the labs have access to available departmental resources including a phosphorimager facility, confocal facility, microarray/FACS facility, etc. The Confocal laboratory is directed by and used heavily by all laboratories. In addition to this there is also a shared Imaging Facility that has a two-photon microscope and two real-time epifluorescence microscopes. The Fly labs share an injection facility (320 sq. ft.) with two microinjection setups for the generation of transgenic flies. The Microarray/FACS Facility are shared resources 2 buildings away. These facilities contain Affymetrix microarray processing instrumentation (hybridization oven, fluidics station, and scanner), an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer system, and a BD FACSAria Flow Cytometer. We have a NMR facility, and a new MALDI and peptide analysis center. The structural biology group at Brandeis owns and operates a superb state-of-the art electron microscope facility. A machine shop and electronics shop are available to the Biology Department and the Science library is located in the adjacent building. ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS The PI of this grant is and has been M. Rosbash for the past twenty-three years. Hall and White who played important leadership roles during the past five years of the grant are passing the torch to Marder and Griffith. Rosbash is principally in charge of grant management and both Rosbash and Marder are responsible for overall scientific leadership and quality control. Griffith is in charge of the media kitchen and other aspects of the Core, including oversight of the microscope facility and its technician. Rosbash's assistant/lab manager Heather Felton, who holds a doctorate in Molecular Biology, as well as the Biology Department administrator Barbara Wrightson provide administrative support for grant-related matters. Felton is an HHMI employee and Wrightson is 100% paid by Brandeis University. All five Pis are members of the Brandeis Biology Department, which is their primary affiliation from an administrative standpoint, and of the Volen Center for Complex Systems. Rosbash has received 100% salary from HHMI since 1989 eliminating any salary from this grant at that time. Most students and post-docs in the group attend the ample seminars and journal clubs hosted by the Biology Department, the Biochemistry Department and the Neuroscience community. There are also Program Project monthly seminars to foster closer contact between the five laboratories. The fly groups hold a monthly """"""""FlyFest"""""""" at which both inside and outside speakers present their work.
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