A Consolidated and Enhanced Molecular Biology Facility for the Whitney Marine Laboratory

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The Whitney Marine Laboratory is a research institute of the University of Florida. It was established in 1974 and dedicated to a traditional role of marine laboratories; the use of marine animals as experimental models with which to address fundamental questions in cellular and neurobiology. This particular approach to marine biology has come to characterize the Laboratory within Florida, the Southeast region, and nationally. In 1989, the Laboratory initiated a program in molecular biology. This program proved to be enormously powerful and popular, so much so that nine of the twelve resident research groups at the Whitney Laboratory now use molecular cloning as a routine component of their research. To accommodate this growth, the Laboratory assigned additional space to molecular biology- the facilities currently consist of 21/2 functionally separate rooms, occupying a total of 630 ft2 , and a separate isotope lab. However, on given day, 12 individuals vie for bench space in any given room, and during peak times, visitors and students might raise this number to as many as 20. This heavy demand inevitably raises problems of scheduling and, most worrisome, contamination of cultures and PCR by extraneous DNA and RNA. Moreover, several essential items of equipment are already quite old, and, in many cases (e.g.,) the autoclave, shaking incubator and ice machine) they are the only item of their kind in the Laboratory, making the whole program is vulnerable to stoppage should one item break down. Finally, because the existing facilities are spread across four widely spaced rooms, the use of the facilities is inefficient. To correct these problems this project will support a consolidated molecular biology facility, organized and equipped so as to as to maximize its usage and utility to the resident faculty of the Whitney Laboratory and to visiting scientists and students. This consolidated facility would continue to operate under the skilled s upervision of the Laboratory's molecular biologist.