Large Equipment and Core Facilities
All of the institutes have established successful fund raising programs, either through direct grant support or through philanthropy. The result is that the faculty within this program have access to state of the art equipment and many core facilities, including those maintained by the UCD Cancer Center, NJMRC and BDC. All of the faculty listed in this training grant have access to the resources of the UCD Cancer Center. Faculty who are members of the Cancer Center receive a subsidy (30%) when they use these core facilities, whereas non-members do not receive the subsidy. The resources and core facilities include:

Animal Care: Animal care facilities are maintained at UCD, the BDC and NJMRC. Each of these facilities are fully accredited by the AAALAC and are registered with the USDA Animal and Plant Inspection Service. All facilities have veterinary services available and their respective Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees review all protocols. Core facilities for DNA micoinjection and derivation of transgenic mice are available at UCD and NJMRC.

Biohazard Laboratories: BL3 laboratories are available to all investigators at UCD and NJMRC following approval of their protocols by the institutional biosafety committees.

Flow Cytometry and Confocal Microscopy: There are six flow cytometers at NJMRC, and two each at BDC and UCHSC. NJMRC also has a confoccal microscopy core facility with 3 microscopes that are equipped with hardware and computer software that enables 3-dimensional microscopy and image rendering. A confocal microscope that is able to perform real time analysis of intracellular Ca2+ levels was recently purchased.

Electron Microscopy: Core facilities are available at both UCD and NJMRC. These core facilities also provide histopathology services.

Facilities for Molecular (DNA and Protein) Biology: Core facilities for oligonucleotide synthesis and for DNA sequencing are maintained at both the UCD Cancer Center and at NJMRC. A core facility for peptide synthesis and for protein and peptide microsequencing (Edman) is available at NJMRC. Proteomic analysis is provided through a joint facility located at NJMRC (2D-gel analysis) and the Cancer Center at UCD (mass spectrometry). The Cancer Center also has a core facility for Affymetrix "DNA chip" analysis. In addition, investigators have access to BIAcore machines (2 at NJMRC) and the ABI Prism Sequence detection system for quantitative PCR (1 machine each at NJMRC and UCD). There is also an X-ray crystallographic laboratory at NJMRC that is equipped with a Rigaku 12 kW generator and an R-axis IV detector.

Cell Culture Core: The UCD maintains a cell culture core that provides many services including: large-scale production of cell lines (e.g. hybridomas and insect cells expressing recombinant proteins), derivation of monoclonal antibodies, maintenance of a depository for cell lines. At the NJMRC and UCD there are core facilities that provides assistance in the derivation of knockout mice. These facilities maintain ES cell lines in an undifferentiated state and routinely confirm the ability of the parental ES cell lines to give germline transmission.

Biostatistics: Core facilities for biostatistics are available at both the UCD Cancer Center and at NJMRC.