Core Facilities

Facility	Eligibilty	Services Offered
Bioinformatics Core	All faculty researchers	The core is active in developing methods for analysis of high-throughput experiments such as genotyping and microarray experiments. It is our goal to enable cutting edge basic science, genomic and translational research at Northwestern by providing the expertise necessary to interpret and design high-throughput experiments.
Biological Imaging Facility	All faculty researchers	The Biological Imaging Facility (BIF) is a 1200 square-foot shared use facility located on the fifth floor of Hogan Hall on the Evanston Campus of Northwestern University. Supported by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Departments of Neurobiology and Physiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology, and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, BIF is a research and training facility that serves the imaging needs of life scientists.
Biostatistics Core Facility	Cancer Center investigators	Development of new studies; Statistical analyses; Data management services; Education.
Biotechnology Laboratory	All faculty researchers	Oligonucleotide Core: Synthesis and purification of regular and modified oligonucleotides; DNA Sequencing Core: Template isolation, DNA sequencing, Genotyping; Proteomics Core: Edman degradation protein sequencing, MALDI-TOF mass-spectroscopy for protein identification.
Cell Imaging Facility	All faculty researchers	Provides state-of-the-art light and electron microscopic imaging.
Children's Viral Vector Translational Resource Center	All faculty researchers
Clinical Research Office	Cancer Center investigators	Provides a centralized resource to facilitate the development, conduct, quality assurance monitoring, compliance with regulatory agency requirements, and evaluation of clinical research/trials.
Clinical Pharmacology Core	All faculty researchers	The Donnelley Clinical Pharmacology Core Facility was established to provide investigators with pharmacokinetic support for clinical studies, including Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, of cancer chemotherapeutic agents and analgesics. Support includes optimizing the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of the pharmacokinetic portion of the proposed clinical study.
Flow Cytometry Core Facility	All faculty researchers	Can perform most flow cytometric assays that have been described in the literature.
Flow Cytometry - Interdepartmental Immunobiology Center	All faculty researchers	The Immunobiology Center Flow Cytometry Facility provides a "user friendly" approach to analytical flow cytometry for investigators of Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and other affiliated institutions. The facility is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to all trained users to allow for usage of the cytometers when convenient for the investigator. Also available in the facility is an additional off-line networked computer for data analysis. In addition, the IBC Core Facility has a faculty advisory board that provide consultation and feedback regarding the operation and future direction of the Facility.
Gene Profiling - Microarray Facility	All faculty researchers	Project Consultation, Printing Low Density Custom Arrays; Scanner Access and Training; RNA Quality Control by Bioanalyzer 2100; Data Analysis; Software access; Advice on Microarray experiments; Labeling and Processing of Affymetrix Chips.
Genomics Core Facility	All faculty researchers	The genomics core at the Center for Genetic Medicine is a shared resource facility that provides a wide range of services to Cancer Center members and the Northwestern University research community. Our goal is to provide services using the state-of-the-art technologies at an affordable price. We provide expression analysis and SNP analysis using both Affymetrix and Illumina platforms, RT-PCR and low density SNP analysis using 7900HT from ABI, RNA quality control using the Agilent 2100, DNA sequencing using 3730 from ABI, custom array fabrication using MicroGridII and high through put DNA extraction by Autopure LS from Gentra.
Genotyping Core	All faculty researchers	Genomic DNA extraction from whole blood, buffy coats, and packed cells. The DNA purification process is automated using the Autopure LS from Gentra Systems. This instrument produces high quality DNA samples suitable for a wide variety of downstream applications.
Immunoassay Core	All faculty researchers	Measurement of hormones, growth factors, and other ligands in biological fluids. Techniques available include radioimmunoassay, enzyme immunoassay (ELISA), and time-resolved immunofluorescence assay. Binding properties of ligands may also be quantified. Methods applicable to both clinical and basic research are available and assays for new compounds can be developed.
Keck Biophysics Lab	All faculty researchers	Makes available a wide array of instruments for the study of the structures and interactions of biological and synthetic macro-molecules, including spectrometry, phospohoimaging, calorimetry, ultracentrifuges, electrophoresis, fermentors and microarray scanners.
Laser-Based Microscopy and Digital Imaging Facility	All faculty researchers	Provides equipment, instruction, and technical support in the use of lasers and digital imaging techniques in microscopy, including optical tweezers, laser surgery, digital imaging, imaging of intracellular Ca2+ or pH, and immunocytochemical and autoradiographic imaging.
Macromolecular Crystallography and Biochemical Computation Resource	All faculty researchers	Interdepartmental shared resources for x-ray crystallography, computational chemistry, and computer-aided drug design (CADD).
Magnetic Resonance Research Facility	All faculty researchers	Provides equipment and training for research in magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy and their biomedical applications. Based at ENH.
Media Preparation Facility	All faculty researchers	Prepares custom tissue culture media and reagents that would be impossible or too expensive for researchers to purchase from outside vendors. In addition, standard media, antibiotics, animal sera, and various reagents are stocked as pass-through items.
Monoclonal Antibody Facility	All faculty researchers	Produces hybridomas secretic monoclonal antibodies using somatic cell fusion. The facility willl produce monoclonal antibodies that are not commercially available, for which commercial purchase is cost-prohibitive or for novel or newly identified proteins.
Mouse Phenotyping Facility	Cancer Center investigators	The purpose of the facility is to assist investigators with gross and histological characterization of genetically modified murine models. Studies can be performed on individual organs or involve a systemic overview of all major organ systems to identify new target organs for genes. Pathologist consultation will allow the development of strategies to elucidate the phenotype and gain mechanistic insight regarding the biologic actions of the targeted molecule. Investigators can be trained in dissection techniques, as well.
Outcomes Measurement Core	Cancer Center investigators	Provides consultative and analytic expertise on the best ways to measure outcomes derived by self-report, serve as a central resource for state-of-the-art instruments and measurement methods, and provides in-house research support services for the collection of outcomes data.
Pathology Core Facility	All faculty researchers	Routine Tissue Processing ;Histochemistry; Interpretation; Immunohistochemistry ;In Situ Hybridization ; Tissue Microarray; Gene Array Analysis; Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM); Tissue Procurement; Quality Control; Quality Assurance.
Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Central Facilities	Cancer Center investigators	The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University funds shared facilities and resources that provide services, equipment and expertise that are fundamental to understanding the basic biology and clinical manifestations of cancer. These facilities and resources are accessible to all of the members of the Cancer Center and support the Cancer Center's mission to foster basic clinical and translational research in the mechanisms and treatment of cancer.
siRNA Library Core	All faculty researchers	The Northwestern University RNAi Core provides researchers with the latest in whole genome RNAi collections. With the rapid rate of scientific discoveries being made in RNAi, this Core Program collaboration with Open Biosystems allows for rapid expansion and continued institution access to Open Biosystems evolving RNAi product lines. This core has obtained the RNAi lenti-viral libraries for both human and mouse (currently 120,000 total clones), and also provides the research community with the required expertise to manage the libraries and execute suitable screens.
Structural Biology Facility	All faculty researchers	Provides resources required for crystallographic structure determination, refinement and analysis; Molecular graphics and computational support for structural biology and for structure-based.
Transgenic and Targeted Mutagenesis Facility	All faculty researchers	The primary goal of this facility is to generate knockout mice by using homologous recombination and mouse embryonic stem cells (HM1*) for biomedical research.