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QB3 Research Facilities
QB3 researchers enjoy access to world-class instrumentation, technologies, and materials.
Access to these resources enables scientists and engineers to develop devices, drugs, and therapies
that save human lives, as well as technologies to prevent or mitigate environmental damage and improve
energy production and use.
This page features two kinds of facilities: 1) Core facilities that are accessible
to QB3 faculty affiliates and in some cases the broader Biosciences community, and 2)
Non-core facilities that may be accessible to QB3 faculty affiliates by special arrangement.
QB3 faculty affiliates are invited to visit the password-protected Intranet and
click on Research Facilities for notes on access, training, cost, and other details.
QB3 research facilities serve six general research areas:
Structure Determination
Beamline 8.3.1 at the
Advanced Light Source at LBNL
This facility is owned jointly by David Agard, professor of biochemistry & biophysics at UCSF; Robert Fletterick, professor of biochemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry and cellular and molecular pharmacology at UCSF; Robert Stroud, professor of biochemistry &
biophysics and pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF; Thomas Alber, professor of biochemistry &
molecular biology at UCB; and James Berger, associate professor of biochemistry & molecular
biology at UCB. This is a national facility that generates bright synchrotron light for studies
in materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental sciences. The beamline uses
a superconducting bend magnet in the 6-18keV range to deliver light through an optical obstacle
course in order to resolve a protein structure. Core facility.
Central California 900 MHz NMR Spectrometer Facility at UCB
Directed by Professor David Wemmer, this Stanley Hall facility features four high-field NMR instruments, including 800 and shielded 900 MHz systems. The instruments are used to study the structures and dynamics of both proteins and nucleic acids at the atomic level, and for probing the formation of biologically important molecular complexes and their functions. Core facility.
Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography Facility at UCSC
Under Harry Noller, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology, and Alice
Vrielink and Bill Scott, professors of chemistry and biochemistry, the facility houses a
state-of-the-art rotating anode/imaging plate X-ray crystallography data collection suite,
a cryosystem, and a collection of computer workstations and software for crystallographic
computations, molecular visualization, and model building. This facility dovetails with the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source synchrotron radiation facility.
Core facility.
Membrane Protein Expression Center at UCSF
Directed by Robert M. Stroud, professor of biochemistry & biophysics and pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, the Membrane Protein Expression Center (MPEC) develops and applies the latest innovative methods that yield structurally and functionally intact membrane proteins for subsequent drug development, structural, and functional characterization. The MPEC focuses especially on eukaryotic membrane proteins since these provide many major drug target proteins. The MPEC accepts target genes for expression in functional form from client laboratories, which can introduce a gene choice for expression and then follow the membrane protein expression progress via a password-protected Intranet web site. Core facility.
The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory at UCSF
Directed by Thomas L. James, professor and chair of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, the facility
includes 600 MHz and 500 MHz spectrometers for high-resolution studies of macromolecules including the
solution structure of proteins, nucleic acids, and their complexes. Core facility.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility at UCSC
This facility in the department of chemistry and biochemistry is used to examine molecular structure
and folding in studies involving structure and biochemical mechanisms of cancer and anticancer therapies
and environmental toxins. It houses three different high-resolution NMR spectrometers.
Core facility.
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High-Throughput Screening
The Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC) at UCSF
The Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC) provides University of California Biosciencesers with access to innovative discovery technologies, including high-throughput and fragment-based screening and "hit-to-lead" medicinal chemistry. The center is under the direction of UCSF's James A. Wells, Harry W. and Diana Hind Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Adam R. Renslo, Associate Director and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The SMDC occupies a custom-built facility on the fifth floor of Byers Hall on the UCSF Mission Bay campus. Core facility.
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Genomics and Proteomics
Microarray Facility at UCSC
Established by Manuel Ares, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz,
and managed by microarray technology specialist Lily Shiue, this resource facilitates large-scale analysis
of alternative splicing and comparative genomics. Core facility.
Proteomics Facility at UCSC
Designed to perform large-scale comparisons in protein expression, this facility houses an Amersham
Ettan proteomics lab with differential gel electrophoresis technology. It is collaboratively operated by
chemistry and biochemistry professors Ted Holman and Tony Fink and environmental toxicology professor Don
Smith. Core facility.
The UCSF Core Facility for Genomics and Proteomics in the Center for Advanced Technology at UCSF
This facility was established by Joe DeRisi, assistant professor of biochemistry & biophysics at
UCSF, Erin O'Shea, professor and vice chair of biochemistry & biophysics at UCSF, and Jonathan Weissman,
professor of cellular & molecular pharmacology. The facility is fully equipped to whole genome approaches,
in particular expression profiling. Core facility.
Vincent J. Coates Genomics Sequencing Laboratory at UCB
Faculty Advisors: Michael B. Eisen, Associate Professor of Genetics and Development, and Rachel Brem, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Development. Managed by Leath Tonkin, Ph.D. Established by a generous gift of the Vincent J. Coates Foundation. The facility in Stanley Hall is equipped with a Solexa 1G Genome Analyzer to exploit massively paralleled sequencing for genome sequencing, ChIP sequencing, small RNA discovery, and expression profiling. Core facility.
Vincent J. Coates Proteomics/Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at UCB
The proteomics / mass spectrometry laboratory (P/MSL) offers full
services in protein identification and characterization. These
services include protein identification from complex samples through
MudPIT analysis, post-translational modification analysis, and
identification of proteins from gel bands. Core facility.
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Informatics
Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and
Informatics at UCSF
This facility was established by Tom Ferrin, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and biopharmaceutical
sciences at UCSF. This facility provides access to state-of-the-art computer graphics hardware and software
for research on biomolecular structures and interactions. It houses the Computer Graphics Laboratory, an
NIH National Center for Research Resources Biomedical Technology
Research Center for the integrated analysis of biological sequence, structure, and functional information.
The other major components of the Center include the
Babbitt Laboratory and the Sequence Analysis and Consulting Service (SACS). Core facility.
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Imaging
Electron Spin Resonance Facility at UCSC
Managed by Glenn Millhauser, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, the facility houses a Bruker
ESP 380 X-band spectrometer that operates in either continuous-wave or pulsed mode at variable temperatures
and a high-sensitivity Bruker ExexSys 500 for limited sample sizes needed for many biological studies.
Non-core facility available by special arrangement only.
QB3/College of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility at UCB
The QB3/College of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility is currently located in 8 Lewis Hall but will soon move to B207 Stanley Hall. The facility features state-of-the-art mass spectrometers. It provides routine nominal and accurate mass measurements of biological, organic and inorganic compounds as well as structural elucidation through tandem mass spectrometry. Mass spectral proteomics analysis, mass measurement of intact proteins, lipids, oligosaccharides, and non-covalent protein-protein and protein-ligand complexes are also available. Core facility.
Margaret Hart Surbeck Laboratory of Advanced Imaging at UCSF
Established by Sarah Nelson, professor and chair of the division of bioengineering at UCSF, the facility
will have a 3 Tesla and a 7 Tesla magnets for high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance
spectroscopy (MRS) to study the physical and metabolic details of human tissues.
Core facility.
UCSF Nikon Imaging Center
The UCSF Nikon Imaging Center (NIC) is a core facility for light microscopy developed in partnership with Nikon Instruments Inc., Technical Instruments, and several other providers of microscopy instrumentation. Opened in September 2006, the facility serves QB3 and UCSF. The NIC will provide investigators access to cutting edge microscopy resources with a particular emphasis on developing novel imaging solutions to systems biology challenges; promote cross-discipline collaborations, training, and courses; and foster collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies.
Core facility.
W.M. Keck Advanced Microscopy Laboratory at UCSF
Being established by David Agard, director of QB3 at UCSF, HHMI investigator and professor of biochemistry
and biophysics at UCSF, and John Sedat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF, this facility specializes
in developing improved light microscopes and high-resolution cryo-electron tomography and single particle methods.
Non-core facility available by special arrangement only.
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Bioengineering
Biomedical Micro and Nanotechnology Core (BMNC) at UCSF
Operated by Tejal A. Desai, UCSF professor of physiology and bioengineering, with partial sponsorship from the Sandler Foundation and QB3, this facility houses technologies needed to 1) link soft biomolecular structures to hard material surfaces for biosensors, array technologies, and new medical devices, and 2) topographically and chemically pattern hard and soft substrates for microfluidics, cell patterning, targeted delivery, and tissue engineering. Core equipment in the clean room includes equipment for photolithography, wet chemical etching, polymer spin coating, and reactive ion etching. In addition, the facility has a Nano eNabler™ molecular printer and an atomic force microscopy system with nanolithography capabilities for developing and characterizing micro and nanoscale organic and inorganic surfaces. Located on the second floor of Byers Hall, the facility serves as a resource for those interested in developing new micro/nanotechnology platforms for their research. Core facility.
Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center at UCB
Directed by UC Berkeley professors Luke Lee, Dorian Liepmann, and Richard Mathies, the Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center (BNC) is a 11,500 sq ft class 1,000/10,000 cleanroom facility located in Stanley Hall. Once it is fully equipped, the BNC will feature a full range of lithography, deposition, etching, metrology, and microscopy equipment as well as facilities for performing biological experiments. The center focuses on microfluidic processing of glass and polymer materials. Experimentation on proteins, nucleic acids, cells, and tissues are encouraged. In addition to a state-of-the-art research lab, the center also features a teaching lab for hands-on training of both undergraduate and graduate students. Core facility.
Nanosecond Time-Resolved Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory at UCSC
The department of chemistry and biochemistry contains several systems capable of measuring different time-resolved
spectra from the far ultraviolet to the near infrared regions for a wide variety of research applications. Non-core
facility available by special arrangement only.
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