Cell Culture Facilities for Organismal and Integrative Biology

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Matching funds are requested from the National Science Foundation to set up a cell/tissue culture facility for use by faculty investigators and trainees in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy of The University of Chicago. During the past decade, this department has made major studies in applying the techniques of molecular biology to problems of organismal biology, and in training students to do likewise. Conspicuous by their absence from these developments have been cell/tissue culture techniques. Absence of suitable facilities in the building prevents departmental researchers from analyzing gene expression in cultured cells and performing physiological investigations. Use of facilities elsewhere on campus necessitates transport of cells/tissues in culture over long distances and outside in inclement weather, which is incompatible with the proposed research. Accordingly, funds are sought to acquire facilities on site. Proposed research applications include (1) examination of possible molecular chaperone activity of a heat shock protein, hsp70; (2) study of gene expression associated with differentiation in a leech model; (3) elucidation of temperature-sensitive regulation of transcription in a natural model (the Ldh-B locus of the fish Fundulus); (4) investigation of effects of aqueous flow regime on stem cell differentiation in demosponges and development of an experimental model for optimizing fluid flow in biological systems; (5) examination of neural bases of learning in a brain explant model. The proposed facility would not only permit these projects to be carried out, but also serve as a springboard for educating all departmental personnel about the utility, promise, and practice of cell/tissue culture. To this end, the PIs would conduct regular workshops whose participant would include departmental personnel and local secondary school instructors.