The Microarray and Molecular Biology Facility Core, formerly called the Molecular Biology Facility Core, has been transformed to address the expressed current and future needs of Center members for instrumentation and expertise support in the areas of gene expression, proteomics and functional genomics. The goal of this Facility Core is to provide to Center faculty access to state of the art technologies in the analysis of gene expression and protein production through providing access to instrumentation, instruction and assistance in methods and training in the analysis of data. In addition to its historical role in providing to Center members cost-effective, high quality DNA oligonucleotides and access to phosphorimaging, this Facility Core has been expanded to include the gene expression analysis, proteomic analysis and the synthesis of RNA oligonucleotides for use in antisense or RNA interference (RNAi) experiments. The goals and the structure of this Core have been shaped by the expressed needs of Center members for tools to carry out gene expression and functional genomic research. In both of these areas, the Center has lent its support to the development of strategic areas that complement and enhances the resources already available at the Hopkins Medical Institutions. The leveraging provided by strategic partnering with ongoing facilities associated with the Malaria Research Institute in the School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has produced a Facility Core structure that is responsive to the current requirements of Center faculty with the flexibility to adapt to new approaches and to be responsive to future needs. Another major advantage that the environment of the Medical Institutions affords the Center is the proximity to a variety of University-based Core facilities. Although these Cores are not directly associated with the Center, Center investigators derive substantive benefits from their existence. Pertinent to this Core is the presence of three additional Affymetrix Core facilities within the Medical Institutions. An informal network of Affymetrix Core Directors and personnel has been formed to discuss problems and emerging technologies. This group will also have resources to sponsor seminar speakers who can inform the community on cutting edge issues in expression analysis. The presence of the multiple Affymetrix Cores has the additional advantages of elevating the volume of chip use to a level that secures deep discounts for all users and as a source of backup facilities should this Core instrumentation fail. Another important resource for the Center and this Core is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored Programs for Genomic Applications (PGA). This Program, in which the Hopkins Program (HopGenes) is one of 11 Centers, is a major initiative to advance functional genomic research related to heart, lung, blood, and sleep health and disorders. Two current Center members are participants in this program. The principal investigator of the overall HopGenes program is Dr. Skip Garcia, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and Dr. Scott is a co-principal investigator of the Animal Models and Proteomics segment of the project. Center investigators will derive benefit from the information, tools, and resources that are being generated by the PGA. One of the primary missions of the NHLBI PGA Program is to develop resources and reagents for dissemination to the broader community of investigators involved in NHLBIrelated research areas. The kinds of resources that are being generated by this Program include: Animal Models and Phenotypes; Clinical and Physiological Studies; Databases and Software Tools; Expression Profiling; Proteomics; SNPs; Comparative Sequence Analysis. Another important University-based facility is the Mass Spectroscopy Core in the School of Medicine, which provides the instrumentation and expertise to obtain mass spectroscopic data on proteins and other molecules. Likewise, the protein and DNA sequencing facility in the School of Medicine will assuredly be of great benefit to Center investigators during the next project period. This same medical school facility can also synthesize custom peptides on request.
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