UC Davis will purchase a BioMark"""""""" HD MX/HX System (Fluidigm Corporation) that performs single cell expression analysis, expression analysis from limited RNA samples, digital PCR/copy number variation, haplotyping, genotyping, single nucleotide polymorphism mutation detection, and microarray validation. The system is extremely flexible with regard to chemistry (e.g., TaqMan(R), EvaGreen[SYBR], Roche UPL, allele specific assays, Solaris, etc), allowing users to quickly adapt existing assays to this highly sensitive platform. The state-of-the-art Fluidigm BioMark"""""""" HD MX/HX System consists of a real-time PCR instrument, Dynamic Array"""""""" integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) for multiplexing samples and reagents, as well as an IFC loader to load the Dynamic Array IFCs and a Reader to quantify and record results. The instrumentation will help us to meet our goal to accelerate our rate of biomedical discoveries in basic, translational, and clinical research, which are shared goals of the UC Davis Health System and the NIH. Currently, 22 active NIH grants and one additional extramural grant based at UC Davis will benefit from the instrumentation, which will be used by NIH-supported research programs more than 90% of the total usage time. The instrumentation will be installed and maintained in the Optical Biology/Flow Cytometry Resource Core (Opticore) facility on campus, where it will be carefully maintained, correctly used, and investigators will have maximum access to it. Initially, the instrumentation will be used by research programs with a focus on diseases of global health importance (e.g., malaria, HIV and tuberculosis), chronic diseases (e.g., cancer and neurobiology), and new therapeutic approaches (e.g., cancer stem cell biology, immunotherapeutics and pharmacotherapy). UC Davis has established the institutional commitment to install, maintain and optimize the instrumentation. An internal Advisory Committee will provide oversight for the instrumentation to ensure the short- and long-term access and service of the instrument to the research community.
