Core Facilities/Service Centers

Boston Campus

Facility Purpose Major Instruments/Services
Animal Pathology Core (APC) Research animal pathology and histology support services
  • Pathology:
    • Necropsy and tissue collection
    • Gross exam with report
    • Histopathology (slide interpretation)
    • Photodocumentation of lesions
    • Training in necropsy technique and slide interpretation
    • Phenotype screening (complete necropsy and histopathology of mutant mice)
    • Investigation of embryonic mortality or embryonic phenotypes
    • Assistance with development of animal pathology protocols
    • Internal review of animal pathology sections of papers for publication
    • Assistance with clinical pathology (bloodwork)
  • Histology: tissue trimming, processing, embedding, sectioning, staining (H&E and other), frozen sections, consultation, training
Antibody Cell Culture Core Facility Custom monoclonal antibodies and antibody production Large scale cell culture, antibody production and purification
Biostatistics Consults and assists in study design, implementation, and analysis, and develops new statistical techniques and software to support research activities N/A
The Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) Assess benefit-risk tradeoffs in health care choices and public health interventions Cost-effectiveness analysis and related techniques, as well as policy research and analysis pertaining to resource allocation
Center for Integrated Tissue Engineering (CITE) 3D engineering of human epithelial tissues Tissue fabrication, tissue histology/processing/3-D tissue imagine; culture of human embryonic stem cells; tissue culture medium preparation
Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) The CTRC provides resources to principal investigators and their staff in the per diem unit on Pratt/Farnsworth 6. The CTRC is a comprehensive “Clinical Research Center Without Walls,” as well as a core facility for conducting clinical and translational “bench to bedside” research. Support is provided for inpatient and outpatient adult, pediatric, and neonatal subjects. There are seven rooms with 10 beds and phlebotomy chairs, and one room with an exam table and a phlebotomy chairs. There are also interview rooms for participant privacy. Educational opportunities support all phases of Phase I translational research (T1). Broadening its base as a resource for all investigators, the CTRC provides study coordinator assistance, “scatter nurses,” administrative assistance, nutritional support and education, essential laboratory services, budgetary development, protocol development, regulatory expertise, as well as administrative tasks related to the CTRC and IRB application process. Essential Laboratory Services include, but are not limited to multiplex assays using the Luminex System, ELISA, EIA, RIA, and colorimetric chemistry and protein assays. Development of novel assays is also available. Testing is available for trace metals as well as performing DNA and RNA isolation (purification, amplification, tracking and storage), and high throughput genomic analysis.
Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) Core Lab Assist investigators with the effective start-up and conduct of laboratory processing and analysis of samples collected in clinical research protocols

The services and assays provided by the CTRC laboratory include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Specimen processing and storage
  • ELISA-based assays, including cytokines
  • RIA based assays, including insulin
  • Heavy metal testing by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometery, including mercury
  • Catecholamine levels by HPLC
  • HPLC separation assays, including levels of medications such as protease inhibitors
  • Micronutrient assays
Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) Genomics Lab Assist investigators with effective design, genetic data generation, and analysis of genetic clinical research protocols

The services provided by the CTRC staff include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Assistance with Study Design, including the issues of sample size, candidate gene selection, haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) selection, and phenotype definition
  • DNA processing, including extraction (from whole blood, buffy coats, buccal swabs, mouthwashes, hair), tracking, and storage
  • Assistance with SNP genotyping, using simplex (TaqMan) and multiplex (SNPlex) platforms
  • Assistance with development of databases with genetic and phenotypic information
  • Assistance with Data Analysis, using a wide range of analytical techniques, including SNP analysis, haplotype analysis, copy number variant (CNV) analysis, and microarray analysis
CNR Animal Behavior Core Rodent behavior phenotyping The core provides expertise and equipment for many different behavioral assays including responses to drugs of abuse
CNR Electrophysiology & Biophysics Core Facility (EBCF) Electrophysiology
  • Recording setup for whole cell current or voltage clamp recording from dissociated cells
  • Recording setup for whole cell current or voltage clamp recording from tissue slices
  • Field recording setup for tissue slices
  • Vibratome for tissue slice recording
  • Glass recording pipette pullers
  • Single channel recording methodology
  • Intracellular injection methods
CNR Imaging & Cell Analysis Core (includes the Tufts Imaging Facility, TIF) Support for imaging including confocal, conventional, and electron microscopy, and laser capture microdissection Leica TCS SP2 AOBS confocal/2 photon scope including inverted and upright microscopes; Perkin Elmer spinning disk confocal, Arcturus PixCell IIe laser capture microdissection, conventional fluorescence and brightfield microscopy; improvision 3D image rendering software
Comparative Biology Unit (CBU) Animal Research Facility The unit offers a wide range of services, including: comprehensive animal care, transgenic rodent breeding services, veterinary surveillance, diet preparation and individualized animal dietary services, animal monitoring, surgery and necropsy

Computational Genomics Core/Tufts Expression Array Core (TEAC)

Gene Microarrays, Q-PCR, nucleic acid analysis, and bioinformatics support

  • Bioinformatics software applications, such as TRANSFAC
  • Bioconductor suite for microarray analysis
  • Affymetrix and qPCR instruments for gene expression studies
Research and Design Center (RDC) at the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (Tufts CTSI)
  • Support for development of research protocols, grant applications, and regulatory documents
  • Web-based secure data collections systems
  • Support full statistical analyses
N/A
Dietary Assessment Collection, processing, developing and interpretation of dietary intake data Dietary Analysis Software:
We have a license with the Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCC) for the Minnesota Nutrient Data System (NDS) that includes state-of-the-art software for data entry and calculation of intakes for 108 nutrients. We use NDS software to collect dietary data via telephone or in person 24-hour recalls. This system uses a multiple-pass approach with prompts displayed throughout the interview to assist in data collection and review. Our data manager has been trained and certified in the use of the NDS system and serves as the trainer and quality control manager for our data entry staff. In addition to completing a detailed training program, the staff is monitored for quality control through random observation of interviews and double entry of selected recalls or records by the dietary data manager.

We also work with the USDA national survey database program, which allows flexibility for additional foods and nutrients for specialized projects. We analyze national survey data from both the USDA Continuing Survey of Food Intake for Individuals (CSFII) and from the Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (HANES), using appropriate statistical software to adjust sampling weights and variances.

Dishwashing/Sterilization Decontamination of materials, sterilization, and dishwashing Dishwashing and sterilization of glassware and decontamination of research materials
Drosophila Media Center Drosophila media Make fly food for the various labs using Drosophila (fruit flies) in their research
Genotyping SNP genotyping and Affy arrays ABI PRISM 877 Integrated Thermal Cycler, ABI PRISM 310 and ABI PRISM 3100 Genetic Analyzers, ABI PRISM 7900 Sequence Detection System, One Affymetrix Gene Chip Instrument System including Data Mining tools
Mass Spectrometry Lab Small molecular and some proteomics 3 Agilent GC/MS instruments, 2 Agilent LC/MS instruments, and 2 ABI LC/MS/MS instruments
MBM Research Media Facility Preparation of biological media Preparation of both standard and specialized biological media
Media Kitchen Preparation of liquid and solid sterile media for microbial growth Autoclaves
Metabolic Research Unit (MRU) Supports human research studies in metabolic research Metabolic kitchen, housing for volunteers, exam room, records library
Nutrition Evaluation Laboratory Comprehensive analytical service in nutritional biochemistry; a specimen processing unit for receiving, aliquoting, tracking and storing specimens Hematology, blood chemistry, water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, lipids, proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, hormones, enzymes, cytokines, minerals and urinalysis procedures
Phoenix Lab (Formerly GRASP Intestinal Microbiology Core) Products and services requiring the culture of microorganisms

Services: protein purification (including Taq polymerase), large scale (10-20L) bacterial and yeast culture, transformation competent cells, CsCl maxipreps of plasmids, specialized media preparation, bacterial library maintenance

Instruments: 20L working capacity fermentor, Aminco cell press, tangential flow ultrafiltration apparatus, liquid chromatography equipment and resins, Victor 2 spectrophotometer, Stratagene realtime PCR

Small Animal Imaging/Preclinical Testing Facility Access to expertise and instrumentation for optical, ultrasound and radiological imaging of whole animals PerkinElmer IVIS 200 Biophotonic Imager, VisualSonics Vevo 2100 Ultrasound Imager, Leica MZ-FLIII/Q-Imaging Fluorescence Imaging System and PerkinElmer Quantum FX Micro-CT Scanner; Use of Imaging Instrumentation for Research and Preclinical Testing, Production of Tumor Models for Imaging, Efficacy Testing of Therapeutics, Nanotechnology and Diagnostic Imaging
Therapeutics Access to instrumentation, services and expertise for discovery and development of therapeutics for treatment of cancer and other diseases Services are primarily project-based but access to the following instrumentation is provided:
  • ThermoFinnigan LTQ Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer
  • epMotion 5070 Cell Culture Liquid Handling System
  • Tecan Saphire 2 Multimode Microplate Reader
  • Tecan Genesis RSP 150/8 Liquid Handling Robot
  • ImageExpress Micro High Content Imaging System
  • PerkinElmer IVIS 200 Biophotonic Imager
Study Center on the Immunogenetics of Infectious Disease (SCIID)

A core facility housing an exciting suite of high performance instruments that is open to all research communities and provides services at different levels.

  • Molecular Devices ImageXpress Micro - high throughput inverted inverted fluorescence microscopy
  • Molecular Device FlexStation II - multi-wavelength bioluminescence and fluorescence detection on a multi-well plate format
  • Molecular Device SpectraMax M5 - a multi-mode, multi-format high throughput reader
  • Amnis ImageStream - a flow cytometer with imaging capability
  • Biacore T100 - surface plasmon resonance based technology for interaction of biomolecules
  • Tecan Genesis RSP 150/8 - Robot for automated fluid handling
  • BD Bioscience Influx - BioSafety Level (BSL)-3 fluorescence activated cell sorter
  • BTX ECM830 - High throughput electroporator
  • CTL ImmunoSpot S5 - ELISpot plate reader and analyzer
  • Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer - electrophoresis with automated size and quantity measurements
  • NanoDrop 2000 Spectrophotometer
  • Perkin Elmer - spinning disk confocal microscope
Tufts Community Research Center (TCRC) TCRC seeks to expand and develop civically engaged research across all the campuses and departments at Tufts through research partnerships between community-based organizations and faculty, students and staff of the university.  Innovative approaches to community research are encouraged, including, but not limited to, community-based participatory research. Critically, such partnerships should be equitable, fair and mutually beneficial.  Support for developing collaborations between Tufts researchers and community based organizations to conduct research jointly.
Tufts Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Center Promote and facilitate GIS, remote sensing, cartography, and geographic research and analysis GIS Instruction & Assistance, Application Development, Database Design, Data Acquisition, Geocoding, Geoprocessing, and Spatial Analysis
Tufts Laser Cytometry (TLC) Flow cytometry analysis and cell sorting (FACS) 2 MoFLo (Beckman-Couter) high-speed sorters with up to 3 lasers, 4-way sorting and cloning options; LSRII (Becton-Dickinson (B-D)) 5 laser, 13 color, 96-well plate reader option; FACSCalibur (B-D) 2 laser 4 color analytical flow cytometer; FACSCan (B-D) 1 laser, 3 color analytical flow cytometer (FlowJo acquisition software)
Tufts Medical Center Transgenic Core Creation of new transgenic lines, rederivation, cryopreservation, and consultation Providing pronuclear microinjection for the production of standard transgenic mice, blastocyst injections for the production of knockout and knock-in mice, rederivation services, and embryo cryopreservation; consultation for design of transgenes or targeting constructs
Tufts University Core Facility (TUCF) DNA and protein synthesis and sequence; proteomics DNA synthesis and sequencing, protein/peptide synthesis and sequencing and mass spectrometry
TUSM Department of Anatomy Electron Microscopy Facility Transmission and scanning EM Philips CM-10 transmission electron microscope and ISI-ds-130 scanning electron microscope
UIT Academic Technology

UIT Academic Technology enables the university and its diverse academic communities to realize their vast potential in teaching, learning, and research through the innovative design and meaningful integration of technology to meet broad and local goals.

Research Technology Infrastructure – high performance computing; research storage; software licensing.

Research Technology Toolstools for visualization; tools for bioinformatics; tools for collaboration.

Research Consulting Services statistical consulting; technology consultation and planning; monitoring, design, implementation, and application of emerging technologies for research applications.

 

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