Core Facilities

Bionomics Research and Technology Core (BRTC):

 

 

Under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Brooks, the BRTC focuses on functional genomics and toxicogenomics with a wide array of associated capabilities including microarray services, nucleic acid services, microchemical/protein peptide assays, real-time PCR, SNP analyses, and consultation in experimental design and data analysis.

 

Chemical Analytical Core Laboratory:

 

 

Under the direction of Dr. Brian Buckley, the state-of-the-art core focuses on the analysis of biological and environmental contaminants and/or their metabolites by both organic and inorganic analytical techniques.

 

Analytical Cytometry/Image Analysis Shared Resource Core:

 

 

 

Under the direction of Dr. Debra Laskin, the core provides access to expert assistance with various techniques in flow cytometry/cell sorting, image analysis, and confocal microscopy as well as expert consultation in experimental design for optimization of data generation, data analysis, presentation, and publication.

 

Molecular Histology Center (MHC):

 

 

The MHC is a collaborative effort supporting academic and industrial researchers in performing a variety of tissue section-based assays including in situ hybridization, auto-radiography, immuno-histochemistry, stereology, densitometry, image capture and presentation, and remote assisted image processing.

 

Controlled Exposure Facilities Core Laboratory

 

 

Under the direction of Dr. Paul Lioy, the Controlled Exposure Facility (CEF) Core provides expertise and facilities to conduct human and animal exposure studies. The Core is comprised of two technology units overseeing exposure chambers that provide controlled atmospheres to human subjects or small animals.  The controlled environmental chambers share components of the pollutant generation systems, allowing for exposure conditions that recapitulate those encountered in both environmental and occupational settings. The goal of the human exposure unit is to provide accurate exposures of human subjects in a setting where many host and environmental factors can be rigorously controlled and where biological specimens can be collected for discovery of biological response indicators and mechanistic studies. The animal exposure unit provides consultation for conducting animal inhalation research in controlled exposure conditions recapitulating those in the human exposure chamber. The ability to generate different atmospheres with known pollutant concentrations in a controlled environment allows testing and calibration of devices that will be used for field and epidemiological studies.

 

Computational Chemodynamics Core Laboratory

 

 

Under the direction of Dr. Panos Georgopoulos, the Computational Chemodynamics Laboratory (CCL) is a state-of-the-art facility for modeling and informatics of environmental and biological systems, dedicated to the development and improvement of methods for performing mechanistically-based health risk studies. These efforts include exploring computer simulation-based alternatives to animal testing for risk assessment.