The Drexel University College of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology includes the Center for Scientific Communication & Outreach (part of the Institute for Molecular Medicine & Infectious Disease), Laboratory for Molecular Genomics, Laboratory for Protein Science, and the Laboratory for DNA Sequencing. Please check this page again for more detailed information about these facilities.

The Laboratory for Molecular Genomics, which is operated within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Queen Lane Campus, provides support for microarray analyses. The microarray facility is fully operational and was established to assist investigators at Drexel University College of Medicine in the rapidly expanding field of genomics and gene-expression profiling.

The laboratory contains a 32-pin microarrayer having the capability to print up to 20,000 spots per slide, a dual laser fluorescent scanner and associated software, several 96-well and 384 well thermo-cyclers and a robotic machine dedicated to high throughput liquid handling. This equipment allows the generation, analysis and processing of large numbers of PCR products for arraying or the direct arraying of synthetic oligonucleotides.
At present, investigators are using slides of Plasmodium oligonucleotides and PCR products, mouse oligonucleotides and rat PCR products. Plans are also being considered to array human and yeast sequences.

Technical assistance is available for the preparation of PCR products, preparation of RNA samples, target labeling, array construction, hybridization of microarrays, data collection and bioinformatic analysis.

For more information, please contact Dr. Lawrence Bergman at Lawrence.Bergman@DrexelMed.edu or 215-991-8376.

Laboratory for Protein Science

Director Peter D. Katsikis M.D., Ph.D.

Drexel University College of Medicine's Laboratory for Protein Science is housed in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and consists of both flow cytometry and deconvolution microscopy. The flow facility is located in Room G41 at the Queen Lane Campus. This facility contains two instruments that can be used for clinical and basic research and are available to the research community as a shared resource. The flow facility is equipped with a bench-top FACSCalibur Flow Cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Jose CA) and a FACSAria (BD Biosciences) high-speed cell sorter. See descriptor below of the two instruments for their capabilities. For reservations click on the reservation buttons below each instrument. Please make reservations at least 48h prior to expected use. Please contact the staff of the flow facility for advice, protocols, sample preparation and pricing (215-991-8372).

Calibur: This modular flow cytometer is equipped with a dual laser sensor unit, a sample loader, and a FACStation data management system with a Macintosh computer and printer. The cytometer is equipped with a 488nm and 633nm lasers and can detect 4 colors: FITC, Phycoerythrin (PE), PerCP or PE-Cy5 (Cychrome), and allophycocyanin (APC). The cytometer can identify various cell types using multiple parameters including forward light scatter, side light scatter, and multicolor analysis (up to four colors simultaneously), which can be analyzed using Cell Quest and FlowJo software. The cytometer can also measure DNA content using Modfit LT software.

FACSAria: The FACSAria cell sorter (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA) is a state-of-the-art high performance flow cell based FACS sorter equipped with 3 lasers (488nm, 633nm and 407nm lasers) and capable of high-speed cell sorting. The sorter is equipped with a FacsAria Workstation for data acquisition, aerosol management and temperature control. Multicolor analysis (15 parameter) and high-speed sorting (up to 70,000 cell/sec) of target cell populations can be performed. The sorter can analyze up to 15 parameters simultaneously including forward light scatter, side light scatter, and multicolor analysis. The sorter is currently equipped with detectors for FITC, PE, PerCP or PE-Cy5, PE-Cy5.5, PE-Cy7, APC, APC-Cy7, Alexa 594, APC-Cy5.5, Alexa 430, Cascade blue.

Data can be analyzed using Cell Quest and FlowJo software. The cytometer can also measure DNA content using Modfit LT software.

Deconvolution Microscopy: The microscopy facility includes an Olympus IX81 inverted fluorescent deconvolution microscopy system with Slidebook deconvolution imaging software.