Molecular Biology/Molecular Genetics Core

分子生物学/分子遗传学(MBMG)核心的任务是帮助研究人员寻找肥胖症及其共病的分子基础。通过与NYONRC其他核心的合作，可以确定人类和啮齿动物的特定基因改变对摄食行为、能量平衡、身体成分和内分泌功能的影响。候选分子在与能量平衡相关的组织和细胞中的作用可以通过在人类受试者和啮齿动物模型上的实验来描述。获得对小鼠基因组的复杂操作和对基因的体外操作对于产生和测试关于遗传效应传递机制的假说也是至关重要的。最后，使用干细胞复制基于细胞的后果 遗传变异在生物医学研究中发挥着越来越大的作用。 分子生物学和分子遗传分析的现代工具包括快速扩展的技术，用于获取和解释与基因序列、基因组结构变异、基因表达和基因功能有关的大量数据。这些方法需要专门、昂贵的设备、熟练的技术人员以及日益密集和复杂的计算分析，所有这些都是 在多个单独的实验室中低效复制。MBMG核心的目标是最大限度地减少将分子遗传学和基因组学的尖端技术整合到该中心研究人员的研究中的障碍；允许经验丰富的研究人员以及非分子遗传学家的研究人员以合理的成本将这一维度添加到他们的研究中。

The mission of the Molecular Biology/Molecular Genetics (MBMG) Core is to assist investigators seeking to discover the molecular bases of obesity and its co-morbidities. Through collaborative efforts with other NYONRC Cores, the effects of defined genetic alterations in humans and rodents on ingestive behavior, energy balance, body composition, and endocrine function can be characterized. The role of candidate molecules in tissues and cells related to energy homeostasis can be delineated through experimentation on both human subjects and rodent models. Access to sophisticated manipulations of the mouse genome and to in vitro manipulation of genes are also critical to generating and testing hypotheses with regard to mechanisms by which genetic effects are conveyed. Finally, the use of stem cells to replicate the cell-based consequences of genetic variation is playing a rapidly growing role in biomedical research. The modern tools of molecular biology and molecular genetic analysis comprise rapidly expanding techniques for acquiring and interpreting large amounts of data relating to gene sequence, variation in genomic architecture, gene expression and gene function. These approaches require specialized, costly equipment, skilled technical personnel and increasingly intense and complex computational analysis, all of which are inefficiently replicated in multiple individual laboratories. The objectives of the MBMG Core are to minimize barriers to the integration of cutting edge technologies of molecular genetics and genomics into the research of the Center's constituencies; to allow experienced investigators as well as researchers who are not molecular geneticists to add this dimension to their studies at reasonable cost.