The goal of this proposal is to obtain the funds to purchase the instruments necessary for a laser capture microdissection (LCM) core facility. The Baylor College of Dentistry basic science faculty request funds to purchase, operate, and maintain three instruments that will be integrated to isolate protein and mRNA from specific cells from whole tissue sections. The three instruments are the Arcturus AutoPix Automated Laser Capture Microdissection System (LCM), the Mx4000TM Multiplex Quantitative PCR System and the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. These instruments will be used together to determine the gene expression and protein profiles of cells from whole tissues. None of these instruments are currently available to the Baylor College of Dentistry faculty. There are two older model LCM instruments in Dallas that are not easily accessible to our faculty or not capable of obtaining the samples needed for our studies.
