( Includes BCM Labs available to UTHealth faculty through a reciprocal Baylor/UTHealth agreement)
Atomic Force
Microscopy Facility
(CCTS)
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a noninvasive technique based on bio-sensing. During AFM imaging, a sharp probe is scanned across a surface to monitor the interactions between the probe and the sample. Scanning can be performed in air or in a liquid environment to the nanometer level. A wide range of samples, from living cells down to single molecules, can be imaged. The mechanical properties of a sample, such as adhesion, stiffness, elasticity and roughness can also be determined.
Director:Ana Maria Zaske, PhD Location: South Campus Research Building 3 (SCRB3) 6th floor 1881 East Rd, Houston, TX 77054
Biobank
(CCTS)
The CCTS Biobank consists of human samples and related clinical data owned by contributing investigators within the Texas Medical Center. The biobank has collected over 200,000 samples through the donations of nearly 50,000 patients. We have the following sample types: plasma, serum, DNA, buffy coat, urine, and saliva. The major disease categories include cardiovascular disease, aneurysms, cancer, and autoimmune system disorders. More than 14,800 samples have been distributed to 53 researchers since 2002. Samples remain with and are governed by the contributing investigator who has final authority to collaborate and/or release samples and data to qualified researchers. The Biobank plans to develop pilot studies to target sample collection within clinics.
This laboratory houses histological equipment for the preparation of thin sections of plastic embedded biologic specimens for light microscopic analysis. The equipment includes an Exakt band saw and grinder and a Microm HM355 automated microtome in addition to several microscopes with cameras for image analysis. The Exakt system allows for plastic sections to be made of undecalcified bone with or without implants (metal or ceramic), dental materials, or other implants such as cardiac stents. The laboratory can make sections for researchers on a fee for service basis.
Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based
Medicine
The goal of the Center is to increase the public's healthy years of life by promoting high-quality clinical research and by advancing the application of this research in preventing illness and reducing suffering, disability, and premature death. In conjunction with other programs provided by the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, we offer a variety of educational programs and support services to advance clinical research endeavors and promote an environment that fosters high-quality clinical research. The Center offers educational programs for researchers ranging from fellows to established investigators desiring additional training. Our programs target investigators who are actively involved in research.
The purpose of the CCTS, which is supported by one of the first 12 national NIH Roadmap Clinical and Translational Science Awards, is to reengineer the research enterprise to facilitate the design and conduct of clinical and translational research by the faculty, trainees, and staff of all 6 schools of the UTHSC– Houston plus M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Memorial Hermann Hospital System.
The CCTS provides resources and expertise in study design, biostatistics, regulatory issues, ethics, bioinformatics, and community engagement; funding for pilot studies; education programs for pre-doctoral, postdoctoral, and junior faculty trainees; resources and protected time for clinical and translational faculty; core laboratory services for immune marker, MRI, proteomic, and genomic assays; a clinical research center for the design and conduct of clinical studies and trials; and assistance with community and industry collaborations.
At UTHealth, the goal of the CLAMC is to provide support to research staff by providing the highest quality of care for research animals through exceptional husbandry services, controlling environmental parameters for animals, training of personnel in regards to humane and ethical use of the animals, routine and emergency veterinary care, animal procurement and transportation, and veterinary technician services in surgery, clinical pathology, and technical assistance.
(Operates in Conjunction with the Proteomics Core Laboratory)
The Center for Protein Chemistry is equipped with state of the art instrumentation, including Applied Biosystems MALDI mass spectrometer, automatic protein sequencer, Agilent ES mass spectrometer, Agilent HPLC, JASCO Circular dichroism spectropolarimeter, Pharmacia AKTA FPLC, Agilent UV-VIS spectrophotometer, Biscotek Triple Detector Array light scattering and lyophylizers, etc. That are required for identification, purification and structure-function analysis of proteins.
The Center also functions as a core facility that provides services to various research projects within the Institute of Molecular Medicine as well as to the UT Medical School. Specifically, the core also provides service of IKAT and ITRAQ chemistry based proteomics analysis. Services are provided on fee per analysis basis.
(Formerly the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC)
The mission of the CCTS CRUs is to facilitate clinical research by providing investigators with specialized facilities, personnel, and advice. Investigators from CCTS institutions (UTHSC-H, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital System) can use any of the CCTS CRUs, depending on the location of their patients and the availability of services at the three CRUs. (Investigators without faculty appointments at UTSHC-H or M. D. Anderson should apply for CCTS membership.
Director:Michael Fallon, MD Location: The Clinical Research Unit (CRU) is located in Memorial Hermann Hospital - Texas Medical Center (CRU at MHH). Two additional CCTS affiliated CRUs are located at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and at the UTHSC-H School of Public Health campus in Brownsville, Texas (Brownsville CRU). http://cru.ccts.uth.tmc.edu/
Custom Monoclonal Antibodies Core Facility (MABF)
The Monoclonal Antibody Facility (MABF) provides custom monoclonal antibody
production and purification to researchers at MD Anderson and beyond.
The main focus of the facility is to produce high-affinity antibodies in a
high-throughput and effective manner, while concentrating on quality of
product and service, as well as saving time and money for potential users.
mAb development, Cloning, Small-scale antibody production, Antibody purification, and Murine Isotyping.
The UT-HSC Cytodynamic Imaging Facility is a state of the art microscopy facility, which directly supports the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology. The facility is also now open as a service center to scientists from the UT Health and the Medical Center community.
The facility has 3 confocal microscopes, 2 FLIM imaging platforms, a TIRF system, a confocal high content imaging platform and an IVIS. Training on all instruments will be provided by Olga Chumakova, Ph.D. the center manager.
Complete electron microscopy services are offered, including: specimen fixation, processing, embedding; thick sections for selection of appropriate areas for EM; ultrathin sectioning and post-staining; imaging with a JEOL 1200EX Electron Microscope equipped with a Gatan Digital Imaging System; immunoelectron microscopy, negative staining, shadowing, special stains, and cryoelectron microscopy services. Scanning probe microscopy facilities are also available.
Equipment
Two JEOL 1200EX Electron Microscope with digital imaging systems
FEI Polara 300 kV Cryoelectron Microscope with digital imaging and automated tomography capabilities
Full electron microscopy facilities, including equipment for fixation, embedding, ultathin sectioning, negative staining, and shadowing.
A Bruker EMX X-band (9 gHz) EPR w/ 12-inch magnet, expandable to Q-band (35 gHz). High-sensitivity and dual-mode resonators, with 0-90 dB range of the source. Two temperature controllers enable measurements from 4 to 300K for samples in liquid and solid states. Update Instrument system 1000 Rapid-freeze quench placed in a Coy Laboratory anaerobic chamber to conduct kinetic measurements for reactions involving radical intermediates or redox change of metal centers is also installed. WinEPR and Simfonia software for data analysis and spectral simulations are run on the Windows platform.
10 color Galios Beckman-Coulter analytical flow cytometer.
Fees are 25 dollars per hour if occasional user, for more extensive usage, there is a flat fee (please inquire).
Fluorescence Microscopy and Imaging Core Laboratory
The Fluorescence Microscopy and Imaging Core Laboratory is a multi-user facility located in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The purpose of this facility is to allow research scientists access to state of the art fluorescence microscopy and imaging equipment, thereby furthering understanding in many diverse areas of clinical and basic research.
We welcome local, national and international researchers with the hope that they will use these facilities fostering symbiotic and collaborative undertakings.
GE Healthcare Typhoon Trio+ flat bed imaging system. DeCyder 2.0 software and an accompanying workstation. The Trio+ is a state-of-the-art imaging system that can scan a variety of sample types from 1000 to 10 µm resolution. The typical use of this type of instrument is for quantitative analysis of Western blots, tissue sections, or other relatively flat samples.
The system has three lasers capable of simultaneously exciting three different fluorescent dyes. Western blots or tissue sections can be stained with multiple antibody/fluorescent dye combinations so within sample analyses can be compared directly. Data analysis is accomplished through the IQTL suite of software modules.
Provide the genetics expertise to support a wide variety of investigators with variable degrees of genetic knowledge. Services include harvesting and banking of patients’ DNA samples. Provide the infrastructure to conduct genetic research, access to equipment, and the expertise needed to carry out high throughput genotyping and sequencing. Provide support with the experiment design and management of large volume databases and the statistical support needed to perform complex genetic analyses.
GRSA maintains the GIPZ collections of short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) vectors (from Open Biosystems) targeting nearly all of the protein-coding genes in the human and mouse genomes.
GRSA assists and performs cell-based screens utilizing either the shRNA libraries and/or reagents provided by individual investigators (e.g., chemical or siRNA libraries). Screens may be carried out in 96-well format (well-by-well) or in pools. GRSA also offers both high-throughput flow cytometry or automated inverted fluorescence microscopy for functional and phenotypic analysis in 96-well based screens.
The Flow Cytometry Service Laboratory is located at IMM- Molecular Imaging Center. We operate three instruments: a BD FACSAria II Special Order Research Product, a BD FACSCalibur and a Luminex LX200. All instruments are available to off-site users on a fee for service basis. Training is also readily available. The BD FACSAriaII SORP is a state-of-the-art 19 parameter instrument equipped with six fiber-optic-linked solid-state lasers, a 355nm UV laser, a 488nm Blue laser, a 561nm Yellow-Green laser, a 640nm Red laser, a 405nm Violet laser, and a highly specialized 785nm Near-InfraRed laser, capable of detecting up to 17 fluorescent signals and simultaneous aseptic sorting of up to four rare cell populations. The BD FACSCalibur provides user-friendly multicolor analysis capabilities and is capable of detecting up to four fluorescent signals. The Luminex system enables the multiplex of up to 100 analytes in a single microplate well.
The Histopathology Service Center is located at The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM)-Molecular Imaging Center. We provide in house routine histology (process, embed, cut and stain paraffin and frozen samples), special stain, and Immunohisto-chemistry services. All services are available to users on a fee for service basis and training is also available.
Antibodies must be provided by investigators.
Price may vary depending on the complexity of the samples.
External users please call for pricing
Automated high content screening of cell-based assays. Automated high
throughput screening of biochemical or cellular assays. High Throughput
Screening of chemical compounds and natural products or siRNAs.
The Microbiology and Molecular Genetics EM facility consists of a JEOL 1400 transmission electron microscope which permits the collection of high resolution images for a variety of purposes including tomography. It is considered by many to be one of the best 120 kV microscopes available and is particularly suited to the examination of 3-D assemblies ranging from large viruses to small protein complexes.
Equipment:\ JEOL 1400 transmission electron cryomicroscope with two cameras; an on-axis bottom mounted Gatan Ultrascan 1000 (4.0 Megapixels and up to 400 kV operating voltage) and a Gatan SC1000 ORIUS side mount large format (11.0 Megapixel) camera which also provides a high speed (>14 frames per second) image viewing mode. This allows the user to search areas within the sample quickly and efficiently allowing the sample to be viewed on a computer screen rather than the tradition TEM viewing screen.
The fluorescent microscope is capable of:
1) Multi-fluor microscope imaging using an inverted stage format.
2) Automated Z-stack acquisition with multiple X,Y points.
3) Automated 3D image deconvolution.
4) Quantitation of fluor intensity, distance, area and volume calculation.
5) Particle tracking.
6) FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photo bleaching) technology.
7) Direct interference contrast (Nomarksi) microscopy.
8) Temperature and humidity control.
Magnetic Circular Dichroism/Circular Dichroism (MCD/CD)
The MCD/CD system includes J-815 and J-730 spectrometers. The former is used for the UV-Vis region (160 - 800 nm) and the latter mainly for the near infrared wavelength range (700 - 2000 nm). These two spectropolarimeters are useful for routine protein secondary structure assessment, quantification of tryptophan, are particularly powerful in defining the structure of various metal centers including heme, non-heme iron, transition metals that show Faraday effect. A 1.5 Tesla electromagnet and a 1 T permanent magnet are shared by the two spectrometers. A cryostat / temperature controller capable of cooling to -150 degree C is included in the system. A PC-based computer system for system tuning and control, efficient data acquisition, post acquisition data processing and spectral simulation are part of the package. A Peltier temperature controller is available for temperature-dependent experiments.
The Histology Labs at UTHealth Dept. of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine provide a full range of histopathologic services, including trimming, decalcification, processing and embedding of tissue samples; Both paraffin and frozen sectioning capabilities; a wide variety of routine and specialized stains; state of the art immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent staining; image analysis equipment and services; high quality results and rapid turnaround time.
The Microarray Core provides facilities for whole-genome studies of gene expression and genotype analysis. The major platform for gene expression analysis is the Illumina Beadstation which can be used for both global gene expression analysis and differential gene expression analysis is human, mice and rats. This system is coupled with Tecan robotics for very high quality microarray processing. The Illumina system can also be used for very high density SNP analysis, up to 1 million SNPs per sample. Alternatively we can genotype ~1500 SNPs in 96 samples simultaneously. Because of the high-density of the Illumina genotyping chips, this approach can also be used for high resolution DNA amplification and deletion analysis. The Illumina system can also be used for promoter methylation studies. To provide coverage of a wider array of species, the core has an Axon 4200A Axom scanner that can be used with Agilent microarrays or tiling arrays.
The Mouse Metabolism Core facility under DERC is one out of 11 NIH-funded core facilities throughout the United States that provides research support to the investigators. This core serves new and established investigators working in the field of diabetes and metabolic diseases. The core also offers extensive support to other investigators wishing to address diabetes-related hypotheses in terms of metabolic disorders and diabetes utilizing mouse models.
Multiplex quantitative analyses using the suspension array system (Bio-plex from Bio-Rad) through Luminex xMAP bead technology, Antibody/Protein arrays, Depletion of IgG and albumin from serum samples to enrich low abundance proteins, and Protein fractionation and protein profiling by two-dimensional liquid chromatograph (PF2D), Data analysis
Specific Services: Molecular weight determinations of peptides and proteins,Extraction and digestion of proteins from gels, Protein identification by reverse phase LCMSMS or peptide mass fingerprinting, Assistance in the analysis of protein modifications, Analysis of complex protein mixtures,Analysis of differential expression of proteins using isotopic techniques
Specialized services: Cell and tissue preparation for analysis ELISA analysis, BioPlex multiplexing quantitation of proteins
Biomarker discovery: Analysis of the differential expression of peptides in the albuminome, iTRAQ and iCAT multiplexing techniques for the analysis of the differential expression of proteins in biological fluids,Biomarker validation.
All plates are set up using liquid handling robotics. Agilent 2100 for RNA quality assessment.
Capabilities: Quantification of nucleic acids over a 7-log range using probe-based assays. New assay development with over 1,000 qualified assays currently available. UPL-based assays and primer-based assays can also be made and used. We also perform zygosity testing for transgenic mice; microarray result validation; siRNA knock-down validation, mRNA screening utilizing plates from multiple vendors; miRNA screening using Exiqon chemistry and assays; miRNA validation; high-resolution melt analysis (HRM) for SNPs, methylation, allele, species and strain discrimination and more; protein melt analysis and protein ligation assays from Applied Biosystems.
Single and multiplexed qELISA assays utilizing plates, reagents and electrochemoluminescence reader from Meso Scale Discovery.
An automated DNA sequencing core facility is accessible to all investigators. Protocols designed to make the core proficient in high through-put DNA sequencing have been implemented and the complete spectrum of DNA variation can be made available. Analytical methods have been developed so that analyses of these variant DNA sites may proceed in a logical manner. Finally, the staff of the core facility are developing novel experimental protocols to provide the most accurate data for analysis of DNA sequences necessary for the use of molecular biology techniques.
The Structural Biology Imaging Center is dedicated to facilitation of structural biology research activities on structure/function of macromolecular and subcellular complexes using key structural techniques: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray crystallography, and electron microscopy (EM).
The Center provides access to 600 MHz NMR facility, Tecnai Polara G2 300 kV and JEOL 1200EX 100kV cryo-electron microscopes, an X-ray diffractometer, all located within the UT at Houston Medical School, and also to the synchrotron beam line of the Molecular Biology Consortium at the University of California Berkeley for X-ray crystallography. The equipment is available to researchers from the Medical School as well as the members of greater Houston research community (on a per-fee or collaborative basis).
UTMDACC CCSG Core Pharmacology and Analytical Facility (PAF)
HPLC and UPLCThe PAF offers a vast array of HPLC and UPLC techniques utilizing high-throughput automated liquid chromatographic systems capable of detection, identification, and quantification of a variety of xenobiotics, following isolation of the analyte from its matrix. Mass SpectrometryThe PAF offers Mass Spectrometry services to assist investigators with qualitative and quantitative measurement of small molecules. Typically these consist of drugs and drug-derived compounds. Pharmacology/Toxicology and Drug Development Services. The faculty and staff of the PAFare also available for consultation on issues pertaining to drug development and related issues including but not limited to:
Drug formulation
Drug stability in different biological matrices
Design of studies to assess drug-drug interactions
Cytotoxicity determinations (cell culture)
Inhibition of macromolecular synthesis
Design of preclinical and clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetic studies
Design and development of preclinical safety pharmacology studies
Analyses of concentration-time data for determination of pharmacokinetic parameters
MRI imaging of humans including high resolution anatomical imaging, fMRI, DTI, MRSI, MRA. MRI of small animals (rodents, rabbits, and small monkeys); anatomical imaging, DTI, fMRI, MRSI.
The eXplore Locus Ultra Pre-Clinical cone-beam CT (GE Healthcare, London, ON) is a unique scanner, one of only a few built, that is a hybrid between clinical and micro-CT systems. A 25 cm bore coupled with relatively high resolution makes the Ultra an ideal system for the imaging of animals from the size of rats to rabbits. Scan times are nearly as short as clinical systems.
This imaging modality can facilitate studies among multiple disciplines: orthopaedics, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, oncology, and others.
