Basic Sciences Cores
The Basic Sciences Cores aim to enhance and foster new developments in HIV/AIDS and HIV-related research by broadening research capabilities and promoting collaboration.
These cores...
- Provide URMC Investigators with improved access to specialized, cutting edge instrumentation at reduced costs
- Facilitate interactions between HIV/AIDS investigators and faculty in chemical, engineering, optical and physical sciences to develop new scientific programs in interdisciplinary areas
- Provide consultation and assistance with biological and structural studies
Director: Constantine G. Haidaris, Ph.D.
Structural and Chemical Biology Core
Services:
- Subsidized use of Structural Biology Facility including theoretical input, practical training and experimental design and data interpretation
- High Throughput Screening
Immunology and Molecular Biology Core
Services:
- Subsidized use of Amnis ImageStream Gen-X Flow Cytometer, capable of capturing 12 multi-spectral images of cells in flow at rates over 50,000 cells/minute with the following abilities:
- 4-lasers (405, 488, 594 and 655 nm) lines
- 12-channel detection
- Multiple magnification (20, 40 and 60X objectives) Improved fluidics
- Greatly improved (10X!) speeds
- Host of new applications including analyses of: (i) Nuclear localization (e.g., NFκB); (ii) Protein co-localization; (iii) Phagocytosis assays; (iv) Cell-cell interactions and more.
- Specialized Protein Production - DCFAR supports custom production of the following:
- Recombinant oligomeric HIV-1 gp140 (produced in human cells)
- Monoclonal Antibodies (produced by transient DNA transfection of 293 cells)
- His-tagged recombinant RT (produced in E. coli)
- Custom proteins of interest, produced as His-tagged moleculed in E. coli
Latest Headlines
Starve a Virus, Feed a Cure?
Feb 2012 - A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online in Nature Immunology. The finding comes from an international team of researchers including scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, several institutions in France – and a graduate student who is a political refugee from Africa and is now at work in a Rochester laboratory, intent on helping his people who have been devastated by the HIV epidemic.
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Scientists Explore Whether What Heals the Head Can Also Heal the Heart
A diverse group of scientists – experts in cardiology, neurology, immunology, microbiology and chemistry – are teaming up to study drugs that show promise in the treatment of dementia for the treatment of an equally debilitating disease – heart failure. In this case, the connection between the head and the heart lies in a particular enzyme that they believe plays a role in the development of both conditions.
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