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Shared Research Facilities The University of Virginia Health System boasts a special aspect to the training environment in the form of a number of shared instrumentation facilities that have evolved over a period of many years. These facilities continue to be supported largely through an endowed grant to the University, the Pratt Fund. Each of the facilities is available to the investigators interested in immunology research and their trainees.
MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS AND OPTICAL TECHNIQUES Central Electron Microscope Facility The Central Electron Microscope Facility is housed in Jordan Hall and has three JEOL electron microscopes including both transmission and scanning capacities. The Facility offers a full range of tools for carrying out studies at the electron microscopic level, including: those for sectioning, sputter coating , critical point drying, shadowing, and freeze etching. The facility operates in collaboration with the investigator at essentially any level of skill and involvement. Simple projects can be done by facility personnel, and students whose problems are more complex and require hands-on involvement, have available to them the entire range of apparatus in the facility. This center also provides a number of courses in electron microscopic techniques that are available to our trainees. Biomedical Image Processing Center The Biomedical Image Processing Center provides a wide range of analytical capabilities for biomedical images, regardless of source. Pseudo-coloring, densitometry, spatial measurements, and 3-D reconstruction, are all available. The "heart" of the Center is a Gould image processing system hosted by a micro-VAX with a Fujitsu real-time disc for video data acquisition. Additional input is available via an Eikonix high resolution digitizer and by an in-house video microscopy work station. A free-standing Eutectics 3-D reconstruction system is also available. Software for analysis includes Analyze, an outstanding three-dimensional reconstruction package obtained from Mayo Clinic. Visualization is provided by 3 Sun work-stations and by a Pixar Image Computer which provides remarkable 3-D imaging capabilities. A staff of three provides expert advice to trainees and a pilot project program in the Center pays for the necessary computer time for trainees to test ideas.
Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting Facility (FACS) The FACS Center has two state-of-the-art devices for analyzing single cells. A Coulter Epics 752 fluorescence-activated cell sorter is capable of analyzing and sorting on the basis of up to seven parameters. The sorter is equipped with a tuneable dye laser pumped by a Coherent argon ion laser. The FACS Center also houses a Meridian ACAS 470. The ACAS permits a wide variety of analyses and manipulations of individual cells, including FRAP and intracellular calcium measurements. A technician is available to operate the machinery, allowing students who wish to undertake a small number of measurements to have immediate access to data obtainable with these very complicated devices. This Center is specialized to provide monoclonal antibodies, growth factors, and T-cell lines for study by faculty and trainees. This Center, like many, carries out diverse activities associated with the formation of hybridomas and the production and isolation of antibodies. Like many, this center is operated by a full-time staff which is prepared to allow faculty and trainees to operate at the level of sophistication appropriate to their purpose. The Center conducts regular workshops on the use of hybridoma technology. This laboratory offers the necessary support to those interested in the use of DNA and RNA probes. Probes can be purified, tissues prepared and labeled, and subsequent tracer analyses performed. Personnel assist trainees in the utilization of these techniques and can teach the methodologies which may be applied to their specific problems.
MOLECULAR ANALYTICAL FACILITIES Molecular Modeling and Gel Analysis Facility Two rather dissimilar activities share high-level computational capacity in this facility. A Bioimage Visage 2000 computerized densitometer provides access to the most sophisticated techniques for scanning and analyzing gels and autoradiograms. The software can be used in a number of analytical modes. The facility also houses two Silicon Graphics IRIS 3000 graphics work stations which are used in molecular modeling and for analysis of structure-function relationships based on the Sybyl molecular modeling package. A full-time programmer is employed in this facility for assistance. Protein and Nucleic Acid Center This Center is available for automated analyses and sequencing of DNA and RNA as well as oligonucleotide synthesis and the analysis, synthesis and purification of proteins and peptides. The Mass Spectrometry Center is organized around a Finnigan-MAT gas-chromatography high- resolution mass spectrometer. The Center is particularly useful in the analysis of amino acid derivatives, and is operated by a full-time staff. Radioimmuno-Assay and Ligand Preparation Core This is a core laboratory supported by the Diabetes Research Center and provides diverse capabilities for the analysis of hormones (e.g. insulin, glucagon) and second messengers (e.g. cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP). Many HPLC techniques are also available.
This newly formed division opened its doors in October of 1993 and is a 4,000 square foot facility of newly renovated space on the third floor of Hospital West. The division functions as not only user support for general information, account administration in MS-DOS, Macintosh and Unix but it also provides speicalized expertise in health informatics, biostatistics, data visualization, molecular modeling, molecular biology and image processing. Current facilities comprise four computing laboratories: Health Informatics, Multimedia, Data Acquisition and Data Visualization. Biomathematics and Biostatistics Center The Biostatistics Center is housed in Cobb Hall and operated by the Department of Medicine but is available to all trainees. The staff of the center offers consultation in a wide variety of statistical analytical procedures and computer programming methodology. In addition, the center teaches a course in research design and analysis which is commonly taken by our trainees. Computer Resources and Technology Center This Center provides support for a wide variety of microprocessor-based computer activities, and it supports the burgeoning use of microcomputers in individual laboratories. The Center provides design and interfacing for connecting laboratory instrumentation to PC based systems, as well as providing support for a wide range of imaging technologies.
Department of Comparative Medicine The Vivarium is supervised by the Department of Comparative Medicine. Two full-time veterinarians oversee the operation. Essentially, any form of research animal can be obtained by and housed in Vivarium units, which are located in Jordan Hall, the Old Hospital, Cobb Hall, and Medical Research Building #4. The Vivarium is AAALAC accredited. The Department of Comparative Medicine offers a course in animal surgery which has been valuable to many of our trainees. The Vivarium also houses our Transgenic Animal Facility.
Two fully equipped machine shop facilities are available to our trainees on the University grounds, one housed in the Department of Physics, the other in the School of Engineering. These shops are capable of constructing virtually any necessary experimental device, ranging from delicate microscope hardware to massive vibration damping systems. In addition to the two shops, the Department of Physiology houses another compact but efficient shop that meets most of the day-to-day needs of our trainees.
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL FACILITIES Essentially all of the laboratories housing our trainees are on-line to the University network and connected via that to the MEDLINE Data Bank. The Medical School Library offers frequent courses in the use of BRS Colleague, Grateful MED, and Direct MEDLINE Searching. In addition, ITC-ACHS provides researchers and clinicians with access to a variety of health informatics through its laboratories and databases available over the Internet. These labs can also provide access to the Genbank, DNA sequencing and protein databases. Claude Moore Health Sciences Library The Medical School Library is a compact but highly efficient, well-stocked library adjacent to Jordan Hall and in close proximity to all of the laboratories in which trainees work. The Library subscribes to 2,500 titles in the clinical and basic sciences and possesses over 40,000 monographs and 2,600 audiovisual programs. The library has a fully computerized monograph retrieval system and a CD ROM MEDLINE search facility available The library computer is on-line and directly accessible from each of the research laboratories in the institution via the LAN. |