Core Facilities
CSUPERB supports the start-up of core facilities containing specialized instrumentation and expertise at host CSU campuses so that CSU biotechnology faculty and students at other campuses can access and use them. Even after CSUPERB start-up funding has ended, most of the core facilities offer reduced pricing to CSU faculty. The CSUPERB Strategic Planning Council surveys campus needs every three years to drive Requests for New Core Facilities.
During AY 2010-2011, the Genetic Analysis and Technologies Committee (a CSUPERB taskforce) surveyed CSU faculty system-wide for needs related to genome research and teaching. A planning workshop will be held July 2011 to outline an analytical infrastructure to support genome studies.
We encourage core facility directors and faculty who have instruments they are willing to share to list capabilities on the FRESCA system. Please use descriptive keywords so that interested faculty can find your facility!
Core Facilities supported by CSUPERB in the past:
Microchemical Core Facilities
Established in 1987, the CSUPERB Microchemical Core Facility DNA Lab is located on the campus of San Diego State University and offers automated fluorescent fragment analysis services for CSU student and faculty research. DNA sequencing and genotyping is performed on the ABI Prism 3100 Genetic Analyzer by capillary electrophoresis. The core has extensive experience sequencing PCR fragments, cosmids and lambda DNA, as well as the usual plasmid templates. Staff will provide custom primer design, contig assembly, plasmid walking services, large-scale plasmid extraction, and Templiphi amplification of DNA from glycerol stocks for large sequencing projects.
More about the Microchemical Core Facility »
Center for Molecular Structure (CMolS)
The W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure (CMolS), directed by Professor Katherine Kantardjieff (now Dean of College of Science & Mathematics at CSU San Marcos), houses the first comprehensive x-ray crystallographic facility located at a predominantly undergraduate institution. CMolS provides faculty and students throughout the CSU the opportunity for joint research and teaching activities directed at the determination and critical analysis of molecular structures.
Elemental Chemical Analysis
CSU Long Beach (CSULB) hosts the elemental micro-chemical analysis (FEMCA) core (see 2008 annual report, .pdf). FEMCA is housed within the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments and Society (IIRMES) at CSULB and marshals a sophisticated array of NSF funded equipment for molecular and elemental analysis; scanning, transmission and atomic force microscopy; as well as purpose-built clean-room facilities for organic and inorganic extractions and sample preparation. FEMCA offers subsidized analyses at reduced rates for CSU student and faculty researchers.