You are receiving this survey as a member of the larger potential core user community. UConn, UCHC, and JAX have tried to inventory biomedically relevant core functions across campuses as a way to assess current infrastructure and as a starting point for considering future investment. Please help us gauge your level of need for current and future functions by answering the questions below.

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* 1. Please provide the following information:

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* 2. Please answer the following questions about the core services listed below:

  Are you a current user of this core? What is your current frequency of use? Do you plan on using this core in the future? What is your projected frequency of use? Do you currently use an external provider to access this technology or expertise? Does this core function need to be operated locally to effectively support your needs?
ANIMAL CORE - Basic murine husbandry services (bedding, feed, water, cage change) provided in a high health status facility with veterinary oversight, animal health surveillance and monitoring. Facility staff can be contracted to provide colony management and additional biomethods services. Conventional, PIV and disposable caging may be provided. CORES @ JAX, UCHC & UConn
ANIMAL IMAGING - Murine in vivo imaging services include consultation, experimental design, animal preparation, anesthesia, data acquisition, data analysis and training. Micro-Computed Tomography (MicroCT), high-frequency ultrasound (Vevo 770), bioluminescence and fluorescent imaging (Xenogen Lumina) are available as well as pDEXA (bone density) and X-ray platforms. CORES @ JAX, UCHC & UConn
BEHAVIORAL & OTHER PHENOTYPING - Consultation, experimental design, surgical and compound dosing services, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, and training for researchers. Expertise in mouse behavioral assays and neuropsychopharmacology across multiple domains including neuropsychiatric, neurodegenerative and cognitive disorders. Neuromuscular, neurosensory, cardio pulmonary, cardiovascular, metabolic and other assessments as well. CORES @ JAX, UCHC, UConn-Storrs
COMPUTATIONAL CORE/BIOINFORMATICS & COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY - Consultation, collaboration, high-throughput sequencing/genome analysis, bioinformatic and statistical analysis, high performance computing: cluster infrastructure and application parallelization, algorithm development, and scientific applications development. Systems biology, medicine, and pharmacology, using mathematical tools to study molecular networks and multi-scale systems. Genomics, using analysis of high-throughput data sets. CORES @ JAX, UCHC & UConn-BBC
COMPUTATIONAL CORE/BIOSTATISTICS - Consultation, collaboration, statistical analysis. Statistical consulting services, including but not limited to the following: assist in formulating hypotheses; identify appropriate sampling units and experimental design; determine necessary sample sizes; assist with or provide statistical analysis; aid in interpreting results; write statistical methods and data analysis sections of manuscripts or grant proposals; suggest appropriate ways to handle reviewers' comments on statistical issues in peer-reviewed manuscripts; customize statistical applications for highly repetitive experiments (i.e., PCR). CORES @ JAX
COMPUTATIONAL CORE/HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING - Bioscience CT Research Network (BCTRN). Aim is to create an integrated and distributed network that will provide logical and secure separation between Clinical/Admin operations and Academic/Research enterprise. Interconnection between these two networks will be strictly controlled, but will offer the research community a segmented, scalable environment designed to accommodate their specific communication needs, while ensuring compliance with HIPAA and all other applicable state and federal regulations. Maintains list of all research-related software products that are currently in use. The CCAM Computational Facility provides high performance computing support to the National Resource for Cell Analysis and Modeling, other research projects within CCAM, and for a number of research groups on the UCONN Health Center campus. CORES @ JAX, UConn, UCHC
COMPUTATIONAL CORE/ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT & SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE ENGINEERING/DB DEVELOPMENT - Consultation, collaboration, application parallelization, algorithm development, systems analysis and scientific applications, database and information management systems development. Examples include: fast/parallel analysis programs written to leverage the power of our high performance compute cluster, software to automate analysis, image analysis software, command-line and desktop tools, web based database applications that allow faculty to share their results with collaborators, and most recently tools for visualizing data on the multi-touch visualization wall. CORES @ JAX
BIOSPECIMEN REPOSITORY - De-identified tissue and/or blood samples and data from consented patients coupled with a database of clinical and laboratory data. Services include consenting eligible patients, coordination of specimen collection, storage and data management. CORES @ UCHC
MOUSE STRAIN REPOSITORY & REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES - Sperm cryopreservation; on-site rederivation and sperm cryopreservation; Sperm Cryo Kit; embryo cryopreservation; cryo storage; sponsored strain distribution and cryorecovery services. The program has cryopreserved more than 3.6 million embryos and 200,000 sperm samples from more than 14,000 lines, and fills more than 2,500 orders per year from cryopreserved embryos, sperm or ovaries. Parallel cryopreserved stocks are stored in liquid nitrogen (-196 °C) and are also backed up by storage at a remote site. The Cryopreservation Program also develops assisted reproductive technologies for more effective colony management. CORES @ JAX
CELL BIOLOGY/iPSCC STEM CELL - Provides services, training and products related to pluripotent stem cells including iPS cell derivation and iPS cell vector production (CORES @ UCHC). CELL BIOLOGY/ANIMAL CELL CULTURE - ES Cell culture for standard gene targeting, ES cell derivation, electroporation, selection & culture. ES cell line importation. (CORES @ JAX and Uconn-BBC) CELL CULTURE/KARYOTYPING - Provides services, training and products related to pluripotent stem cells including iPS cell derivation and iPS cell vector production (CORES @ JAX & UCHC)
CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER/CLINICAL CORE - Provides nursing, study coordination and IRB regulatory support for inpatient and outpatient studies at UCHC and partnering institutions. Nurses and research assistants travel to area hospitals that do not have dedicated on-site clinical research personnel. CORES @ UCHC
CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER/LABORATORY CORE - Consults with clinical investigators to facilitate their access to all laboratory resources available at UCHC. The Core Laboratory, which is CLIA certified, processes clinical research blood and tissue samples, carries out a variety of single and multiplex immunoassays, conducts molecular biology based assays of RNA and DNA sequences and maintains a cell culture facility with expertise in iPS cell development and characterization. CORES @ UCHC
CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER/DATA MANAGEMENT CORE - Provides assistance with management of active data sets and development of clinical research IT platforms and provides assistance in managing data entry, data storage and administrative management of clinical studies. The Dental Research Center Core assists investigators with study design and grant writing and maintains a clinic devoted to research, with subject recruiters, examiners, study monitors and secure data storage. CORES @ UCHC
CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER/DENTAL RESEARCH CENTER CORE - Assists investigators with study design and grant writing and maintains a clinic devoted to research, with subject recruiters, examiners, study monitors and secure data storage. CORES @ UCHC
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY - The X-ray crystallography facility in the BBC is a complete X-ray diffraction system enabling data collection on a wide range of protein crystal samples. The central component of the system is the MicroMax-007HF Microfocus rotating anode X-ray generator coupled to Varimax-HF Optics providing a focused, monochromatic, highly convergent beam with a focal spot size less than 0.1 mm. Auxiliary workstations are also available for data processing and solution calculations. This facility is designed for enabling unassisted use. CORES @ UConn-BBC; UConn-IMS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY - Consultation, experimental design, data analysis and training. Sample processing (ultramicrotome, cyrosectioning) and transmission and scanning microscopy as well as elemental analysis. Assisted and unassisted use. User training for equipment use. CORES @ JAX, UConn-Storrs, UCHC
FLOW CYTOMETRY - Consultation, experimental design, sample processing, data acquisition, data analysis and interpretation. CORES @ JAX, UCHC, UConn-BBC
HIGH THROUGHPUT/HIGH CONTENT SCREENING - Comprised of integrated instrumentation dedicated to aiding researchers in the small molecule screening and drug discovery process. This core enables researchers to (1) develop robust, reproducible assays for screening; and (2) screen large libraries (>150K compounds) of diverse small molecules to identify suitable lead compounds for further development. This facility is designed for enabling unassisted use. CORES @ UConn-BBC
HIGH THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING - Consultation, experimental design, sample processing, library preparation, data acquisition and first pass quality check analysis. CORES @ JAX & UConn-BBC
HISTOLOGY - Consultation on experimental design. Sample processing (fixation, embedding, trimming, sectioning, staining, coverslipping) for preparation of paraffin, plastic and cryosections by facility staff. User training. Standard and special stains as well as immuno-histochemistry. Murine necropsy and clinical assessment (hematology & clinical assessment). CORES @ JAX and UCHC
IN VIVO SERVICES - Comprehensive, data-driven efficacy testing (using the mouse) in a wide range of therapeutic areas: Oncology, Inflammatory and autoimmune disease, Neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders. Consultation, experimental design, data acquisition and first pass data analysis. CORES @ JAX
LIGHT & CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY/IMAGING - Consultation, experimental design, data acquisition, analytical scripts, 3D reconstruction, morphometrics analytical support. User training for equipment use. Laser scanning confocal microscopes, TIRF imaging, spinning disk confocal, combined confocal/NLO/FCS systems. Live cell imaging. FRAP and photoactivation. Widefield & stereo microscopes. CORES: JAX, UConn-BBC, UCHC
MASS SPECTROSCOPY/PROTEOMICS/METABOLOMICS - Consultation, experimental design, sample preparation, data acquisition, analysis. Expertise and instrumentation for routine analysis of small molecules by HPLC and mass spectrometry. Facilities support quantification using targeted analysis and structure determination using accurate mass instruments. Untargeted metabolite profiling assays are also supported. Facilites are accessed through both assisted and unassisted use. CORES @ JAX, Uconn-BBC & UCHC
MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY - Medicinal Chemistry Faculty in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences explore the design, synthesis and mechanism of new drugs. Key areas of concentration include the determination of structures of drug targets using X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), organic synthesis of new drugs and structure-based drug design. CORES @ UConn-Storrs
NANOFABRICATION - Facility houses instruments for patterning of flat surfaces and selective etching of materials. Researchers fabricate devices and structures to demonstrate novel device concepts and to characterize new materials. These nanofabrication capabilities range from fundamental studies in solid-state physics and materials science to applications in energy conservation, sensors, displays, and biomedical devices. This facility is designed for enabling unassisted use. CORES @ UConn-BBC
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE - UConn-BBC: Varian INOVA 600, Bruker AVANCE 500 (Also Chemistry Department Bruker AVANCE III 400). UCHC: Jasco J-715 Spectropolarimeter, differential scanning calorimeter MicroCal VP-Capillary DSC400 MHz NMR – (walk-up access for chemists and pulse sequence development). 500 MHz and 600 MHz NMR Instruments have 5 mm HCN inverse cold probes with z-axis gradients (for biological samples when sensitivity is needed) & 5 mm room temperature HCN inverse probe with z-axis gradients (for biological samples; give superior 1H sensitivity over the broad-band probe, but lower than the cold probe). 10 mm broad-band probe, for detecting 15N, 13C, 31P and other nuclei with dilute samples. 800 MHz NMR: for long-term biological samples, has 5 mm HCN salt-tolerant inverse cold probe with z-axis gradients; for biological samples and 5 mm room temperature HCN inverse probe with z-axis gradient; designed for biological samples. Consultation on experimental design. User training for equipment use. CORES @ UConn-IMS, UConn-BBC & UCHC.
TRANSGENIC/MICROINJECTION SERVICES & MURINE REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES - Consultation, experimental design and user training. Molecular construct development, ES Cell culture for standard gene targeting, ES cell derivation, electroporation, selection & culture. ES cell line importation. Microinjeciton (pronuclear and blastocyst), stem cell/embryo aggregation, surgical services and husbandry. KO, Tg, ZFN, TALEN, CRISPR. Murine ES Cell line importation. CORES @ JAX, UConn
VIRAL VECTOR CORE - Consultation, experimental design, protocol development, vector generation and characterization, user training, data acquisition, and oversight. Production of high-titer viral vector preparations, including but not limited to lentivirus, retrovirus, adeno and adeno-associated viral vectors. Growth and maintenance of packaging cell lines, transfection of packaging cell lines, concentration of viral preparations, titer determination of viral stocks, in vitro and in vivo experiments, and plasmid construction. CORES @ JAX

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* 3. If any of the core functions listed above need to be operated locally to effectively support your needs, please list them below and tell us why they need to be operated locally:

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* 4. If there are any technologies for which you foresee need that are not identified above, please list them below:

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* 5. Where do you go to get information about available core services?

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* 6. How would you like to access such information in the future?

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