The
Vector Core Facility is dedicated to the construction and production of recombinant
adenoviral and other vectors to investigators in the Gene Therapy Group at
LSUHSC-S. It is anticipated that this resource will be expanded to be available
to all faculty members, as well as local corporate businesses for use in a
variety of preclinical gene therapy studies. Services provided by the Vector
Core Facility include construction of adenoviral shuttle vectors, co-transfection
of shuttle vectors with adenovirus helper DNA into viral producer cell lines,
plaque purification of viral stocks, growth of high titer recombinant vector
stocks and assay of recombinant and helper virus titers in stocks. In addition
to development and construction of new vectors, the prime responsibility of
the Vector Core Facility is controlled, small-scale production of viral gene
vectors for preclinical studies in animals. The Vector Core Facility contains
approximately 600 square feet of laboratory space and includes dedicated space
for growth of infected and non-infected cells. This laboratory has a large
capacity -80 C freezer for storage of virus seed stocks and production lots
of recombinant virus intended for preclinical studies. The laboratory is equipped
with an inverted microscope, a low speed centrifuge, a biological safety cabinet
and four large capacity, double stacked CO2 incubators for growth and production
of recombinant virus. The laboratory contains all the necessary molecular
biology equipment to construct viral vectors, including a variety of power
supplies and apparatus for horizontal and vertical gels, electrophoretic transfer,
and DNA sequencing, a microtiter plate reader, a PCR thermocycler, a UV/visible
spectrophotometer, and an electroporator. Large equipment, such as scintillation
counters and ultracentrifuges are available in a shared equipment room nearby.
The Vector Core Facility also has access to a P-3 laboratory, located in an
adjacent room, which can be used for experiments in which containment of biohazardous
material is required.
Core Facilities
Histology
and Tissue Resource
Vector
Morphology
Fluorescence
Microscopy
Confocal Microscopy
Flow Cytometry
Mass Spectrometry/Proteomics
Automated Cellular Imaging System
Genomics
Real-time
PCR
Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM)
DNA Array Analysis
Animal Imaging
MicroPET
Imaging System
MicroCT Imaging System
Bioluminescence/
Fluorescence Imaging