Core Facilities West Virginia University


The WVUHSC supports research in many ways, including an on-site library and through support for core facilities. The Health Sciences Center Library exists on the second floor of the WVUHSC and is in close proximity to the investigators. The WVUHSC has an extensive library collection with interlibrary loans available for free to all faculty and students. In addition, the basic and clinical science departments each have their own library of current journals pertinent to that department’s interest, many of which supplement our WVUHSC library holdings.

Several very fine core facilities are also in place to support basic research, including alight and confocal microscopy facility (with microinjection capabilities), electron microscopy center, animal quarters, transgenic charge basis. In addition, each of the basic science departments in the WVUHSC have centralized common equipment rooms that are dedicated to supporting that departments research needs, such as scintillation counters, super-speed and ultra-centrifuges with a variety of rotor-types, sonicators, FPLC, HPLC, mass spectrometry, airfuges and other shared equipment, which can be used free of charge.

Each of the following core facilities are housed in the WVUHSC and are operated on a charge basis with a designated individual to run the day to day operations of these facilities. These facilities have both user and service options.

Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility - Micromass Maldi and Finnegan LC-MS (ion trap) mass spectrometers were purchased using an NCRR equipment grant (S10-RR16792- 01) and are available to perform high throughput and sensitive analysis of proteins. A BioRad 2-D gel separation apparatus was also donated to this facility (gift, Dr. John Barnett). A Proteomics Facility was established using the Cobre grant. 900 ft 2 of lab space has been renovated for this facility, which exits on the second floor of the Health Sciences building, at the School of Medicine . A technician with mass spectrometry experienced has been identified to manage the facility. The facility has gel apparatuses, needle pullers, small equipment, 2 computers with monitors, gel scanners, a robotic arm linked to software to the scanner for isolation of protein spots of interest, a digestion system for elution and digestion by trypsin of protein spots of interest. Tryptic fragments can be introduced to the LC-MS ion trap mass spectrometer for identification of protein sequences. The mass spectrometer sends this information to the computer which searches databases to identify the protein of interest.

 Light and Confocal Microscopy Core – This Image Analysis Facility is available to the West Virginia University research community. The facility provides access to advanced biomedical imaging technology including state of the art light microscopy and quantitative software applications. The goal of this facility is to assist West Virginia University researchers in deriving quantitative data from a diverse range of image sources including electrophoresis, photomicrographs, transparencies, videotape, digital images, histological preparation and in vitro specimens. In addition, the facility assists the researcher to incorporate images and data collected for use in grant applications, publications and presentations. This facility has a Zeiss LSM 510 confocal microscope, an Optimas Image analysis system, MicroBrightfield stereo investigator and neurolucida, Codonics 1600 Dye sublimation printer, Fujix pictography 3000 color printer, Focus imaging ImageCorder slide maker, flatbed scanner with transparency adapter, Optonics MagnaFire microscope digital camera. This facility is available to users on a charge basis. Users also request support from grants for this facility.  

Electron Microscopy Facility – A Health Sciences Center Core Electron Microscopy Facility provides complete scanning and transmission EM services on a fee-for-use basis. This Well- equipped center is staffed full-time and supervised by faculty from the Departments of Pathology and Anatomy. Investigators can obtain consultation regarding experimental design, as well as expert tissue preparation and ultra-thin sectioning services. One of the two microscopes is a recently purchased JEOL TEM, and both instruments are covered by manufacturer service contracts. The Core EM facility also offers complete darkroom services. The HSC Image Analysis facility of the Anatomy Dept. offers a comprehensive confocal imaging system (Zeiss LSM-510) and an integrated microscopy system for neuroanatomical 3-D reconstruction and design-based stereology (Neurolucida and Stereo Investigator; MicroBrightfield, Inc.).  

Animal Quarters and Transgenic animal facility – The animal quarters is on the first floor of WVUHSC and oversees the care of many different species of animals, including mice, rats, dogs, cats, reptiles and chickens. Also, the facility has two incubators for hatching eggs. West Virginia University school of Medicine was one of 41 recipients (out of a national total of 105 applicant medical schools) of a Biomedical Research Support Program from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Some of these funds are being used to construct a transgenic rodent core facility (TRCF) at our medical center. A relatively unique aspect of our program is the ability to generate transgenic mice and rats. Rats are often the species of choice in physiological studies, and the ability to provide transgenic animals represents a powerful research tool. The objective of the TRCF is to serve a central molecular biology resource for the conception and execution of new projects and provide resources to help offset the high costs of developing transgenic animals. Architectural plans for this facility will be complete within a matter of days, and we expect the facility to be operational by mid- summer. Our goal is to provide a facility that provides better quality control, turn around time, and cost effectiveness than commercially available services. TRCF staff will be available for education, assistance and consultation during all stages of transgenic animal development, and are responsible to implement new transgenic technologies, such as conditional gene deletion and temporal transgene expression.