The Penn State College of Medicine Mass Spec and Proteomics Facility offers complete sample prep services, methods development, and bioinformatic/biostatistical analyses for discovery and targeted proteomics and quantitative proteomics (Identification & Quantitation w DIA-PASEF , plus targeted MRM/SRM assays) as well as for small molecule/lipid quantitation.

The Scripps Florida Flow Cytometry Core (FCC) serves the Scripps Florida community as well as researchers from outside Scripps on a fee-for-service basis. Services offered include, cell sorting, analytic cytometry, laser microdissection and hematology.

FCC facility staff will perform all sorting on the FACS ARIA3.

Analytical applications include immuno-phenotyping, cell cycle analysis (DNA content, BrdU), and calcium flux (ratiometric imaging), among others. Additional modalities (FRET, intracellular organelle staining, etc.) can be developed in response to need; please talk to us about your specific application.

The Leica LMD laser capture microdissection microscope has 4X, 6.3X, 10X, 20X, 40X, and 63x objectives, automated motorized scanning and positioning, and remote stylus operated input.

The Hemavet 950 FS is an animal blood cell counter and differential analyzer. The Hemavet allows for a fast and complete five-part white blood cell differential, red blood cell analysis, and platelet analysis.

Biorepository collection is comprised of blood samples, tissues and other biological materials donated by patients, coupled with information about their health, environment, lifestyle, medical care and responses to medical treatment. Biorepository is accredited by College of American Pathologists.

Core provides development and testing of small animal models to be used for pre-clinical pulmonary research. BSL2 facility that allows the assessment of pulmonary function related to airway hyper-responsiveness, ventilation-induced lung injury, postnatal lung development, airway remodeling, chronic inflammation, allergy, environmental exposures and infection. Services offered include oxygen profiling, infection and treatment; ability to deliver, measure and test pre-clinical potential of therapeutic interventions via aerosol; and housing of small animals.

The Atomic Force Microscopy Core at Penn State College of Medicine was created in 2023, in part, through an NIH S10 award (1S10OD030279-01A1). The core’s mission is to provide the College of Medicine research community with access to state-of-the-art atomic force microscopy equipment and expertise as a means to advance the strategic research goals of the institution.

MRI Laboratory
The MRI Core Facility contains 8,900 sq. ft. of laboratory space, which includes: biochemical, electronic and surgical suites, and a fully equipped machine shop with (2) 3D printers.

Equipment
The MRI Core facility has two MRI systems and an EEG MRI-compatible system dedicated for research.

3T Siemens PRISMA-Fit scanner equipped with True 2 Channel Tx and 64 Channel Rx. The latest RF coil set including a 64 Channel head coil and software packages with full clinical capability.
7T Biospec 70/20 as small animal imaging system (Bruker Biospin, Ettlingen, Germany). Latest Hardware and Software. Avance NEO with Paravision 360.

Full sensory fMRI stimulation systems:

SenSaVue System for visual and auditory stimulation (Invivo Corp, FL, USA), which includes an LCD visual display, audio system, button response unit and software (E-Prime) for paradigm creation, patient management, protocol planning, precise delivery of brain stimulation, and behavioral analysis.
ETT Olfactometer with full-programmable 6 independent channels for odor and trigeminal stimulation (ETT, LLC, Hershey, PA).
Olfact Smell Test System (Osmic Enterprises, Inc., Cincinnati, OH) is a computerized instrument to test the smell functions of human subjects. The smell functions that can be tested are odor threshold, odor identification, and odor memory.
ETT Gustatometer with full-programmable 7 independent channels for taste stimulation (ETT,LLC, Hershey, PA)
Eye Link 1000 Plus system via SR Research: The EyeLink 1000 Plus Host PC performs real-time eye tracking at 250, 500,1000, or 2000 samples per second while computing true gaze position on the display viewed by the participant. The Host PC also performs on-line detection and analysis of eye-motion events such as saccades, blinks, and fixations. In addition to the sample data, these events are stored in a data file on the Host PC. They can be sent through the Ethernet link to the Display PC with a minimal delay or output as analog signals (if the optional analog/digital I/O card is installed). From the Host PC, the operator performs participant setup, monitors their performance, and can communicate with applications running on a Display PC.

Located in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Zeiss LSM 980 Cryo-Confocal Microscope

300 kV Krios Cryo-TEM for SPA and tomography, Equipped with Volta phase plates, bioquantum energy filter and K3 direct electron detector

200 kV thermionic JEOL 2100 for cryo-imaging, cryo-tomography, and standard imaging of stained grids

Flow Cytometry analysis, Cell sorting, Flow Imaging analysis

Our mission is to facilitate investigators to use multiple modern NMR applications, including structure elucidation of small molecules, triple resonance experiments of biomolecules, fragment-based drug discovery, metabolomic and tissue analyses.

The Penn State Hershey College of Medicine Comparative Medicine Imaging Core provides equipment and expertise for bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging, in-vivo, full-body, 3D anatomical, functional and molecular imaging and MRI.

High-Performance computing cluster housing x86 compute cores, graphical processing unit (GPU) cores, and directly-attached high-speed storage.

The Custom Antibody Biomedical Core Facility at the COM provides end-to-end service for the production and purification of custom antibodies

The Light Microscopy Imaging Core at Penn State College of Medicine provides consultation and training in ultra-high-resolution imaging of cells and tissues in fixed or live states. The core also provides expertise in quantitative image analysis and consultations on microscopy-related research projects.

The Metabolic Phenotyping Core at the Penn State College of Medicine offers equipment for the comprehensive assessment of energy balance and body composition in experimental rodents (mice and rats). Services include training in the use of the equipment, consultation on experiment design, and help with data analysis.

Our mission is to provide high-quality transmission electron microscopy (TEM) services, education, and training for the Penn State Hershey campus, other academic institutions, and private companies at large.

The lab is equipped with high-resolution transmission electron microscopes (JEOL 1400) and full suite of ancillary sample preparation equipment to fit most TEM-related needs. The equipment can provide nanometer scale analysis for biological, chemical and materials science. The TEM facility offers multiple levels of service that correspond with the services and training each user desires:

Project consultation
Education and training for new users
Full-service transmission electron microscopy.
TEM services include sample preparation, fixation, embedding, ultra-microtomy, staining, TEM imaging, immuno-localization (i.e. immunogold EM), and negative staining.

Process, store and ship clinical trial samples from IRB approved studies. Collect remnant samples for an outside company for instrument correlation, validation and specimen type verification with IRB approved protocol. CLIA Waver for urine pregnancy, urine dipstick results for participant study treatment.

The Zebrafish Functional Genomics Core at the Penn State College of Medicine was established to provide the Penn State research community with a modern, centralized facility for housing, breeding and performing experiments with zebrafish, one of the fastest-growing model systems in biomedical research.
The mission of the core is to provide a physical and intellectual infrastructure for investigators whose research can benefit from use of the zebrafish as a model system.

Nuclear magnetic resonance, known as NMR, uses the magnetic properties of certain nuclei to study molecular structure. A wide variety of information can be gathered using NMR for chemical studies (including structural and conformational determinations) as well as biological studies (including protein and nuclei acid structure and function).

The core facility offers and operates as a full service core by performing crystallization, X-ray diffraction data collection (both in-house and synchrotron sources) processing, phasing, crystallographic refinement, model building, and visualization. The structural data obtained by the core will provide scientists with a wealth of information including but not limited to biological functions, 3D-folding, ligand binding (small molecule or protein), or mutational effect of target macromolecules.

The Behavior Core at Scripps Florida provides an excellent resource for investigators wishing to include behavioral assays in their research programs. It is divided into separate suites to accommodate either mice or rats, and a wide range of behavioral paradigms is available. Behavior Core personnel can assist in all aspects of rodent behavioral testing including design, training, and execution of behavioral tasks as well as data analysis and interpretation.

The Cell Based High-Throughput Screening (CBS) core provides investigators with access to genome-wide collections of cDNAs, microRNA-adapted short hairpin (shRNA) retroviral libraries, and siRNA libraries that can be used to interrogate cellular models of signal transduction pathways and phenotypes. The core has also assembled a variety of smaller focus sets form each larger library as wells as chemical libraries available for cell-based screens.

The Genomics Core provides next generation sequencing and microarray analysis. The core supports a wide array of experimental approaches and respective bioinformatics support for:

RNA-Seq (mRNA, miRNA and total RNA)
Chromatin-associated RNA-Seq
ChIP-Seq
Whole gene expression profiling
Splice variant quantification
Copy number variation
Quantification of libraries used in pooled functional screening approaches

At the Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases (Metabolic Core), we offer prompt access to validated in vitro and in vivo tests to help advance the metabolic characterization of genetic and pharmacological research models of metabolic diseases, cancer, circadian rhythms, aging, inflammation and more.

We have consolidated analytical and in-vivo laboratories with a number of applications ranging from feeding, sleep, temperature, blood pressure, body composition and metabolic monitoring in mice, to cellular metabolism and in-depth chemical analysis of hormones, nutrients, inflammatory mediators and more.

Additionally, we will assist our users with trainings, experimental design and data analysis as needed and promptly respond to their troubleshooting requirements during experimentation.