Integrated cDNA Microarray Center

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): At present, the University of Pittsburgh
has no microarray facility dedicated to serve the neuroscience community.
Establishing a core resource that will permit the widespread use of this
technology is essential. Indeed, recent external advisory board evaluations of
our Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders (CNMD) and the Department
of Psychiatry both identified, as a priority, the creation of a core microarray
facility dedicated to neuroscience because "continued success in this arena is
dependent upon an improved infrastructure for molecular biology/genetic
studies." PittArray, the only microarray facility currently serving the needs
of University of Pittsburgh researchers, located in a 200 sq. ft. laboratory,
is oversubscribed and offers only limited services.
We propose to establish NeuroArray, a microarray core that will serve group of
more than 120 facuilty doing neuroscience-related research in the Schools of
Health Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences, all physically located on the
same campus. The integrated DNA microarray center will have capabilities to
perform Microarray probe synthesis, printing, hybridization, scanning and
verification. Due to the large demand of our neuroscience community for such a
resource and the ongoing activities, we expect that NeuroArray will be working
at full capacity as soon as it is established. Several investigators (Mimics,
Levitt, Lewis, Pierri) already have obtained external funding for projects
involving microarray experiments and have a track record using microarray
technology. We expect that NeuroArray will operate on a cost-recovery base
within two years, with initial funding from various departments and centers.
The microarray core will be managed by Dr. Mimics, who has been the co-director
of the University of Pittsburgh Microarray Core Facility (PittArray) for over
three years. A steering committee will oversee the operation of NeuroArray.
NeuroArray will be housed in a centrally located Biomedical Science Tower of
the Health Sciences.
The Departments of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Neurology, the Center for Neural
Bases of Cognition (CNBC), as well as the School of Medicine are committed to
establishing and maintaining NeuroArray. The commitment is long-term, with the
facility serving as a valuable addition to other functional genomic resources
at the University of Pittsburgh.