A core of instrumentation will be established to facilitate and promote a variety and ongoing series of projects in molecular biology and molecular genetics. The following new equipment items requested are: a DNA sequencer, and an expanded centralized computer system for DNA/protein sequence analysis. The facility will also include a DNA synthesizer, a fluorimeter, an HPLC, and a high voltage paper electrophoresis apparatus. The facility would be supervised and maintained by a dedicated technician, who would also carry out the DNA syntheses and the DNA sequencing gel runs. Major users of this facility are studying the expression of the dihydrofolate reductase gene in cultured mammalian cells, the role of the enhancer in immunoglobulin gene regulation, the mechanism of RNA splicing and 3' end formation, biogenesis of mitochondria in yeast, transcription termination and antitermination in E. coli, and the characterization of genes controlling cell differentiation in C. elegans. The facility would be available to all 24 laboratories of the Columbia Department of Biological Sciences, and to a limited extent, to undergraduates.
