Office for Research and Graduate Studies (ORAGS)

The primary objective of the Biopolymer/Genomics Core Facility is to enable and advance institutional science through the services offered.  These services include DNA sequencing, genotyping, DNA/RNA synthesis, and gene expression studies that utilize microarray or real-time PCR technology.  In addition to these genomics-related services, the Facility offers peptide synthesis and purification, and custom characterization and purification of proteins and peptides as well as other molecules.  Established in 1986, the Biopolymer/Genomics Core Facility is an integral resource for the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and serves as a Shared Service for the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center and as the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s General Clinical Research Center’s Genomics Core Facility.  The facility operates with state-of-the-art instrumentation and an extremely knowledgeable, well-experienced staff. 

Directors:

Nick Ambulos  Howard Hall 598
Lisa Sadzewicz Howard Hall 569
Phone: 6-8553 or 6-3339
Fax:                 6-0287
Email:              biopolym@umaryland.edu or nambulos@umaryland.edu
Location:         Howard Hall 560
Web Site:        http://medschool.umaryland.edu/biopolymer
Hours:             Monday through Friday 7:00am – 5:30pm

Services                      Avg Turnaround Time                  Instrumentation:

DNA and RNA Synthesis         (24 hours)                             ABI models 3900 and 394 Synthesizers

DNA Sequencing                     (24 hours)                             ABI models 3730XL and 3100 Sequencers

Genotyping/SNP analysis  (Depends on method used) ABI 3730, UHT SNPstream, Affymetrix

GeneChip 3000 system, ABI 7900 Fast Real-Time PCR

Microarray services

-Affymetrix                               (2-3 Days)                             Affymetrix GeneChip System 3000

-Custom Arrays                        (2-3 Days)                             GenePix printer, GeneScan scanner

Peptide synthesis                     (1-2 weeks crude, 2-3 weeks purified)  2 Rainin Symphonys

Custom Protein Purification       (Inquire)                                 multiple Beckman HPLC systems

Custom Protein Analysis           (Inquire)                                 multiple Beckman HPLC and CE systems

Assay Development                   (Inquire)                                 HPLC’s, CE’s, BioMek

Staff (areas of expertise):

Nick Ambulos (All Services) nambulos@umaryland.edu
Lisa Sadzewicz (All Services)biopolym@umaryland.edu  
Patricia Campbell, Ph.D. (Peptide syn, protein analysis and purification) pcamp001@umaryland.edu
Jing Yin, DDS (Microarray services)  jyin@umaryland.edu 
Kevin Rossomando (DNA synthesis and DNA Sequencing) kross001@umaryland.edu    

Faculty Advisory Committee:  Kurtis Bachman, Ph.D., Meredith Bond, Ph.D., James Galen, Ph.D., Steven Munger, Ph.D., Paul Welling, MD, Alan Smith, Ph.D. (ad hoc; former director of the Protein/Nucleic Acid Core, Stanford)

Satisfied Customers:  Gerard Barcak, Ph.D., James Carney, Ph.D., Allan Delisle, Ph.D., Martin Flajnik, Ph.D., James Nataro, MD, Ph.D., Alan Shuldiner, MD, Dudley Strickland, Ph.D., Stefanie Vogel, Ph.D., David Weber, Ph.D.

Pricing (As of 10/1/05):

DNA Synthesis (Synthesis up to 150mers):

            Scale               Cost/base

            40nM               $0.40

            0.2µM              $0.75

            1.0µM              $1.50

            10.0µM            $10.00

HPLC Purification (regardless of scale of synthesis): $50.00 per oligonucleotide

RNA/SiRNA synthesis (0.2uM scale) $5.00/base (includes HPLC desalting)

DNA Sequencing 

            Full Reaction samples performed by Core: $10.00/sample
            Full Reaction (full 96 well trays) performed by core: $600.00/tray
            Ready-to-Run* samples: $5.00/sample
            Ready-to-Run* full 96 well trays: $100/tray
            Primers (for primer-walking projects) $8.00/primer

Peptide Synthesis

            (Charge/Amino Acid)              25µM               50µM               100µM             250µM
            Crude Peptide                        $15.00             $20.00             $30.00             $35.00
            75-95% Purity                        $25.00             $30.00             $40.00             $45.00
            95% or better Purity                $35.00             $40.00             $55.00             $65.00

Microarrays

            Affymetrix Gene Expression:
            $250.00 per sample (Investigator provides arrays)

            Affymetrix Mapping:
            $30.00 per sample (Investigator provides arrays and kits)

            Glass slide array processing: 
            $300 per slide for 2 color dye labeling
            $250 per sample for amplification
            $20 per slide for scanning
            Custom slide printing (Inquire)
Misc.

I-cycler or 7900 Fast Real-Time PCR machine use  $30.00 per run
Analytical HPLC                                  $25.00 per run
MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry        $25.00/sample
All other services, please inquire for cost estimate

Please visit our web site for modified bases or labels that can be incorporated into oligonucleotides or modification that can be made to synthetic peptides.

Instrumentation Available for investigators to use (first come, first serve):

            - Storm 860 Phosphorimager (Howard Hall 550)
            - Wallac Victor 2 Microplate Reader (Howard Hall 550)
            - BioRad I-Cycler  (Howard Hall 564)
            - Applied Biosystems 7900 Fast Real-Time PCR system (Howard Hall 564)

- Genescan 5000 fluorescent glass slide scanner (Howard Hall 564)