Cores

Viral Vector Core


The Viral Vector Core, a fully equipped facility within the research space of the Institute of Molecular Cardiology, is located in the Baxter I Building. The Core is organized into three areas: a molecular biology laboratory for vector construction and recombinant virus analysis, a tissue culture room for non-viral work, and a tissue culture room dedicated to viral work.

The lab is fully equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for the construction, propagation, and purification of viral vectors. The facility stores and maintains all of the reagents and general supplies for tissue culture and for viral vector propagation.

Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Core


The Institute of Molecular Cardiology owns and maintains a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (MoFlo, Dako Inc., Cupertino, CA) housed within the MDR Building, which is capable of ultrahigh-speed cell sorting. The MoFlo is housed in a room adjacent to the confocal microscopy laboratory. The system provides excellent data handling capabilities, high viability and yield of sorted cells, >1 billion event listmode files, auto-compensation, and standard and custom plate sort capabilities. Individual stream deflection can be controlled with simple coarse and fine alignment, droplet control, and stream configuration/control options. The system also allows determination of regions with full parameter resolution, and customized, accurate control of single cell deposition. Other features include CyCLONE calibration and real-time display of sort statistics. Three staff members of the Institute of Molecular Cardiology have received formal training on the operation of this instrument and will process samples for potential users.

Together with the Diabetes and Obesity Center we also operate a Becton Dickinson LSR II located on the second floor of the Baxter II Building. This LSR II has expandable laser and detector capacity, should the need arise for additional color analysis.

To meet increasing demand, the Institute of Molecular Cardiology has also recently obtained a Becton Dickinson FASCalibur and an Acuri C6 flow cytometer. Both are available to accommodate more users and, in the case of the FACSCalibur, to provide the potential for clinical purposes.

Histology and Pathology Core

The Institute of Molecular Cardiology has a Pathology Core Laboratory located in the Baxter I Building. This facility is capable of processing fixed and frozen samples for sectioning with subsequent staining and histologic and pathological analysis. The Core facility has a pathology laboratory for tissue processing.

The Core also has two microscope rooms for imaging and a molecular biology laboratory for biological analysis of CPCs and tissues. The microscope rooms are fully equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for pathological analysis of cells and tissues.