Autophagy Scientific Core

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SUMMARY In support of the Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism (AIM) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE), the Autophagy Science Core (ASC) will centralize expertise, training, and instrumentation for high quality autophagy assays. Although the University of New Mexico Health Science Center (UNM HSC) enjoys a breadth of investigator expertise in various disease states, a centralized facility is needed to support autophagy investigations. The ASC facility will enable AIM mentored PIs (mPIs) and a growing cadre of investigators at UNM HSC, statewide, and regionally to implement autophagy assays into their research. In support of the AIM CoBRE mission, these centralized ASC resources will accelerate the mPI trajectory toward independent NIH- R01 level funding, thus, side-stepping the steep learning curve mPIs typically face. ASC will share a newly remodeled space—the scientific cores lab (SCICORE lab)—and will interface with the AIM Inflammation and Metabolism Core. For different applications the two scientific cores will share an AMNIS ImageStream X Mark II flow cytometer and will jointly participate in its upgrades, applications, development and oversight through the expertise of a single technical support staff. Also ASC will maintain an autophagy transgenic animal colony with expert genotyping and phenotype quality control. ASC will not duplicate the existing shared equipment and will fully interface with existing facilities at UNM HSC and with existing cores at other Institutional Development Award (IDeA) centers in New Mexico. Furthermore, ASC will foster multidisciplinary interactions between established and junior investigators at UNM HSC and regionally by supporting research in a wide range of autophagy-implicated fundamental processes and disease states. The following specific aims will be accomplished: Specific Aim 1. Create a unique single resource to provide both expertise and experimental capabilities in autophagy techniques and research Specific Aim 2. Enable and enhance the autophagy research of mentored PIs and develop the new cohorts of CoBRE investigators to study autophagy in the contexts of inflammation and metabolism. Specific Aim 3. Lead, coordinate, and develop autophagy research across UNM HSC and the state. Achieving these aims will facilitate R01 attainment of the current roster of mPIs; develop a new cadre of investigators using autophagy measures; establish a long-term sustainable core to enable AIM research; and support research at UNM HSC, statewide, and in regional IDeA states. ASC, and by extension AIM, will become a national resource through technical workshops and other modes of dissemination.