INBRE: URI: CENTRALIZED RES CORE FACILITY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The RI-INBRE Centralized Research Core Facility is in its seventh year of providing research and training support to the Network participants and the Rhode Island biomedical research community. During the current grant period more than 57 research groups have used the Facility, with an average quarterly cumulative frequency of 1,200 usages. The Facility users consisted of 32 faculty, 31 postdoctoral fellows, 93 graduate students, and 20 undergraduate students. The Facility staff provided training and consultation to all new users and in order to better utilize various technologies in their research projects. In addition, the staff continued to participate in teaching various techniques in the undergraduate and graduate laboratory courses offered by the College of Pharmacy. These courses are designed to provide both theoretical and hands-on experience to students using the Facility's equipment. Throughout the year, several instructional seminars and training workshops were organized in collaboration with the instrument manufacturers. The topics included: "Discovery and characterization of novel biomarkers using SELDI-TOF technology"; "Xcelligence System a new frontier in label free, real time cell based assays for apoptosis, and GPCR invasion migration"; " QSTAR-MS/MS in a small molecule environment"; " Charged Aerosol Detector (CAD) a novel mass sensitive universal detector for the routine determination of any non-volatile chemical species; and "Profiling chemical toxicity using CDAS safety toxicology platform in the EPA ToxCast program". Based on the recommendations received from the RI-IBRE participants, new equipment acquired this year included the following: Quick Gene 810 nucleic acid isolation system; Polarstar Optima microplate reader' and Cellometer Vision automated cell counter. The SEDI-TOF system has become obsolete because BioRad has discontinued future production and upgrade. The Facility will be looking to replace this system with a new TOF-TOF machine with SELDI capability. A total of 170 posters were printed with non-RI-INBRE researchers paying a modest fee to cover the cost of consumables. The equipment and consultation were continued to be made available to the researchers at no cost. Overall, the usage of the Core Facility instrumentation and its consultative services has continued to increase.