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Principal Investigator: Chun-Teng Huang
Organization: SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $594,187
Funding agency: NIH Office of the Director
PROJECT SUMMARY
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has 40 research labs specializing in cancer,
children’s health, stem cells, degenerative diseases of aging, as well as infectious and other diseases. Many
recent advances in medical research and healthcare rely on the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. Recently,
advances in functional genomic technologies have provided an unprecedented opportunity to understand
fundamental mechanisms underlying diseases initiation, progression, and relapse. Thus, these technologies
hold great promise in the identification of novel targets and innovative treatments.
In order to remain cutting-edge, the SBP Functional Genomics Core Facility seeks funding to acquire the
Beckman Coulter Biomek i7 Hybrid automated workstation. This fully automated system, with 8 independent
pipettes and interchangeable 96 and 384-multichannel liquid handling platforms, will replace our existing
outdated, underperforming Hamilton Microlab STAR (2005 model year, 96-well platform) and Agilent Bravo
(2010 model year, 384-well platform) equipment. Even after expensive software and hardware upgrades, both
the Hamilton STAR and Agilent Bravo models will still fall short of automating the desired library preparation and
screening workflows demanded by the NIH-funded projects that are currently being supported by our core facility.
A key part of this enhancement is the production and screening of large-scale arrayed CRISPR libraries, which
enables a wide variety of new scientific approaches not possible with pooled or small-scale arrayed CRISPR
library analysis. In contrast to the Hamilton STAR and Agilent Bravo, the new Biomek i7 enables streamlined
automation of multiple continuous pipelines and mitigates capacity limitations. Designated pipelines include high-
throughput production of bacteria, viral vector plasmids, recombinant viruses, and mammalian cell cultures, as
well as cell-based phenotypic screening and assay processing, which can be accomplished on a 96/384-well
platform.
This application is supported by eight major SBP users with active NIH-funded projects. As stated in the
application, the projects of all eight major users - together accounting for 77% of the Biomek i7’s available use
time (AUT) - will greatly benefit from the Biomek i7 automation to advance their proposed studies in diverse
human disease research topics including cancer, aging, muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s disease and related
dementia, and COVID-19.
Terms: <AD related dementia><ADRD><Accounting><Aging><Alzheimer's and related dementias><Alzheimer's disease and related dementia><Alzheimer's disease and related disorders><Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia><Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder><Alzheimer's disease or related dementia><Alzheimer's disease related dementia><Assay><Automation><Bacteria><Bioassay><Biological Assay><COVID-19><CRISPR library><CRISPR-based library><CRISPR/Cas9 library><CV-19><Cancers><Cell Body><Cell Culture Techniques><Cells><Child Health><Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats library><Computer software><Core Facility><Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019><Degenerative Disorder><Disease><Disorder><Equipment><Funding><Healthcare><Hybrids><Libraries><Liquid substance><Malignant Neoplasms><Malignant Tumor><Mammalian Cell><Medical><Medical Research><Modeling><Muscular Dystrophies><Myodystrophica><Myodystrophy><NIH><National Institutes of Health><Phenotype><Plasmid Cloning Vector><Plasmid Vector><Preparation><Production><Progenitor Cells><Relapse><Research><Software><System><Technology><United States National Institutes of Health><Viral Vector><aging associated disease><aging related disease><cell culture><cell cultures><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease-19><coronavirus infectious disease-19><degenerative condition><degenerative disease><disease of aging><disorder of aging><fluid><functional genomics><health care><human disease><innovate><innovation><innovative><liquid><malignancy><muscle dystrophy><neoplasm/cancer><new drug target><new druggable target><new pharmacotherapy target><new therapeutic target><new therapy target><novel><novel drug target><novel druggable target><novel pharmacotherapy target><novel therapeutic target><novel therapy target><preparations><recombinant virus><screening><screenings><stem cells><time use>