CORE--TISSUE CULTURE AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY

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Description: (Applicant's Description) The Tissue Culture/Monoclonal Antibody Core (TC/MB) has served for the past 12 years as an efficient resource for UCCC investigators to access specialized cell culture technologies and produce monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Cell fusion and construction of MAb secreting hybridoma cell lines has been offered since the founding of the facility and continues to be a major function. Production of MAbs from large scale growth of hybridomas in conventional spinner vessels and in hollow-fiber bioreactors was established more recently and this component of hybridoma services has grown by approximately 300% over the past four years. Construction of baculovirus vectors and expression of recombinant proteins in insect cells, established as a service at the last review, has also grown significantly (200-300%) to become a major function of the Core. The TC/MB Core has developed and maintains a repository of more than 150 cancer cell lines in liquid nitrogen and provides UCCC investigators with seed cultures for experiments or cell pellets from large volume cultures as a source for isolation of macromolecules or other cellular factors. In 1997, an On-Site Media Supply Center was established that provides commercially prepared liquid growth medium, supplements and serum at substantially reduced prices and has saved UCCC investigators over $180,000. In addition to technical services, the TC/MB core provides consultation/training and quality control procedures. One or more of the TC/MB Core services has been used by 117 UCCC investigators since the last review of the TC/MB. The users are from 9 of 10 Programs and more than 95% hold peer-reviewed extramural research grants. The custom technological services have provided support for more than 180 publications of UCCC investigators over the last 4 years. The future goal of the TC/MB Core is to continue to provide existing quality services and expand the capacity of custom baculovirus services and large scale growth of hybridomas that have increased the most. To expand the capacity of these services, a small annual increase of 5.5% in Core grant budget is requested so that the technical staff can increase from 3 to 4 individuals. Additionally, new equipment is requested in the second year.