The Molecular Biomarker Core is a 1,600 square foot shared wet lab facility that provides FPB School of Nursing students and investigators with the resources needed to successfully collect and store biological specimens, as well as perform common DNA, RNA, and protein analyses.
- A Thermo Scientific Sorvall Legend XTR refrigerated benchtop centrifuge and an Esco class II biosafety cabinet for processing of blood products.
- A liquid nitrogen cryogenic storage system and four Thermo Scientific XLT -80°C ultralow temperature freezers equipped with remote monitoring for storage of biological specimens.
- Two Opentrons OT-2 liquid handling robots for automated specimen processing, nucleic acid isolation, and assay set up as part of high-throughput biomarker workflows.
- Small equipment for microcentrifugation, western blot, ELISA, nucleic acid isolation, conventional PCR, and gel electrophoresis.
- A Thermo Scientific NanoDrop photospectrometer for nucleic acid quantification.
- An Applied Biosystems Step-One thermal cycling system and a Qiagen Qiaquity digital PCR system for quantitative gene expression analysis and genotyping assays.
- A MesoScale Discovery QuickPlex SQ120 system for multiplexed chemiluminescence immunoassays, as well as a Fisher Scientific Multiskan microplate reader for colormetric immunoassays.
- An Invitrogen E-Gel Imaging system and a LI-COR cDigit scanner for documentation of gels and blots.
The laboratory is directed by Dr. Grant O’Connell, a PhD-trained biomedical scientist with an extensive background in clinical biomarker research, and managed by Maria Stoll, a molecular biologist with decades of bench experience. This expertise can be leveraged by FPB School of Nursing students and investigators for pre/post award consultation regarding the design and implementation of projects involving collection and analysis of biological specimens.