Laboratory Equipment for Post-Genomic Studies in Environmental Biology

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This award provides support for purchase of equipment to establish an integrated laboratory for high-throughput processing of DNA samples in environmental research. Establishment of the laboratory will give scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) access to high-throughput capabilities that are typically restricted to biomedical or industrialized genomic research centers. Equipment to be purchased include several robotic workstations, a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction device and a pulsed field gel electrophoresis) system. This new equipment will permit scientists at both institutions to achieve optimum use of an existing high capacity DNA sequencing and microarray facility. This robotic equipment will completely automate management and processing of DNA samples, and thus enable scientists to sample genetic diversity in the environment at a level previously unimaginable. Research questions to be pursued address issues in genome evolution, biodiversity, and environmental influences on gene expression. The equipment will allow precise measurement of changes in gene expression in response to external factors (e.g. toxins, other chemicals) and as a result of symbiosis, and will also be used to measure specific DNA sequences in uncultivable environmental populations. The new high-throughput capabilities will also directly impact the training and education of visiting and year-round scientists, students, and postdoctoral fellows at the two institutions in Woods Hole, MA.