RESEARCH LABORATORIES AND SUPPORT FACILITIES

Research laboratories are located in the Kline Biology Tower (KBT) and Osborn Memorial Laboratories (OML). In KBT, where most faculty members are housed, there are constant temperature rooms, tissue culture and fermentor facilities, plant growth chambers, a zebrafish facility, and extensive equipment for molecular biological, genetic, biochemical, optical, and electrophysiological investigations. Three P2 facilities are available for work requiring biological containment. Two confocal microscopes housed in common space are available for use. The departmental electron microscope facilities, housed in OML and KBT, have three transmission electron microscopes and one scanning electron microscope, together with complete support facilities for specimen preparation and sectioning, supervised by a full-time staff scientist who also provides training for users of these facilities.

OML houses the major classrooms and teaching laboratories of the Department and the Training and Research Support Division, in addition to research laboratories and offices for faculty members in plant molecular biology. Plant growth chambers, constant temperature rooms and tissue culture facilities are located in OML; a small greenhouse is also located nearby. The top floor contains the major animal care facility for small mammals on the Arts and Sciences campus. In Yale's Marsh Botanical Gardens, located one block north of Science Hill, there are outdoor plots and three large greenhouses for research purposes as well as a display collection of native and exotic woody plants.

GENOMICS FACILTIES

The Yale Center for Excellence in Genome Science (YCEGS) is an NIH funded facility located in the Yale MCDB Department in Kline Tower. The principal function of the YCEGS is the production of genomic and proteomic microarrays for experimental approaches not available from commercial sources. An example is the production of microarrays with all of the unique sequences for the entire length of human chromosome 22. The open reading frames are available commercially, but the intergenic regions are not. We produce microarrays beginning with the design of PCR primers for whole human chromosomes, and then perform the PCR amplification and verification of DNA fragments (22,000 DNA fragments for hC22). We print the microarray slides, label and hybridize probes, scan the arrays, and analyze the results. To aid the production of microarrays, the YCEGS facility possesses liquid handling robotics to do the pipetting, multiple PCR machines do the amplification, capillary electrophoresis verifies the PCR products (rather than gels), and pin tool or piezoelectric arrayers print the slides. Graduate Students, Post-docs, and PIs from several departments (MCDB, MBB, Chemistry, Yale Med Pathology, Yale Med Cell Biology, and EPH) throughout Yale University utilize the facility. In addition to human chromosomes, the YCEGS has arrayed all of the yeast ORFs, all yeast intergenic DNA fragments, nearly all of the yeast proteome, and all of the available rice ORFs. Several thousand Arabidopsis proteins are also printed and assayed by our genomics facility. The facility also has a QPix colonly picker for assembling libraries for arraying or other purposes.

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IMAGING FACILITIES

The Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department hosts several advanced facilities for optical imaging. Our newest systems include two Zeiss LSM 510 laser scanning confocal microscopes. Both systems are built on AXIO Observer Z1 inverted microscopes as the imaging platform. The Zeiss LSM 510 NLO META is our most heavily used system and is designed primarily for live cell studies. This confocal is outfitted with a temperature controlled incubator stage, a tunable Chameleon laser and electronics capable of spectrally separating similar fluorescence emission profiles. The 510 META-based system is equipped with four separate visible lasers, including an Argon (458, 477, 488, 514nm), DP Solid State (561nm), HeNe (543nm) and HeNe at (633nm). These laser lines enable users to perform deep tissue imaging, time-lapse acquisition, multimode imaging and FRAP analysis using a wide range of genetically encoded biosensors, including GFP, CFP and YFP. Our second LSM 510 confocal system is equipped with visible excitation lines provided by three lasers: Argon (458, 477, 488, 514 nm), HeNe (543nm) and HeNe (633nm). This confocal excels at acquisition of visible wavelength fluorescent probes simultaneous with differential interference contrast images. Both 510 confocal microscopes are equipped with a range of objective lenses (10x to 100x Plan-Apochromats and a 40x C-Apochromat), making them suitable for observations of large tissue slices, plants, embryos and live cell studies of yeast and bacteria. Image acquisition and processing is achieved using ZEN (Zeiss Efficient Navigation) software, a Windows-based program with significant improvements over the older LSM AIM software package. Specifically, ZEN allows easier analysis and improved features for ion concentration measurements, kinetic analysis, colocalization and image analysis. LSM files are easily rendered using ImageJ free software.

Both confocal systems are housed in separate temperature-controlled rooms in the Kline Biology Tower, and are supervised and maintained by Dr. Joseph S. Wolenski in the Department of MCDB. Dr. Wolenski has maintained the existing light microscope core facility for 17 years and has his office is in KBT 330 adjacent to the 510 META confocal microscope. Dr. Wolenski provides individual training sessions for all potential users and offers significant scientific input to colleagues and collaborators. These systems are available for use by trained individuals at a nominal hourly rate ($25/hr as of 07/10).

Two additional confocal microscopes are supervised under the asupices of the Yale University Neuroengineering and Neuroscience Center (NNC), which provides advanced image acquisition and analysis services, using laser scanning confocal microscopy in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. Originally funded as an advanced technology center by the state of Connecticut, the facility is currently located to the second and sixth floors of the Kline Biology Tower (KBT). Among the instrumentation is a Biorad model 1024 UV laser confocal microscope system, configured with both UV argon ion laser and visible krypton argon lasers. The confocal microscope system allows for ratiometric measurements of ion levels in living tissues, as well as three-channel confocal microscopy of virtually all fluorophores currently available for biological research. The facility also houses advanced image processing workstations that are network linked to user laboratories.

On the second floor of KBT is the molecular biophysics facility. This facility provides advanced image acquisition and analysis of living specimens, using computer-enhanced digital optical microscopy. The Cytoskeletal and Cell Motility Research Group (CCMG), a consortium of several departmental researchers studying problems in molecular dynamics of living cells, also maintains its optical and image analysis facilities on the same floor. The CCMG, also oversees the departmental transmission and scanning electron microscopes located in basement level of OML.

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TRAINING AND RESEARCH SUPPORT DIVISION

This division of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology currently operates from space in Osborn Memorial Laboratories and Kline Biology Tower. Its functions are to provide several introductory and advanced laboratory courses for advanced undergraduates and physicians, to serve as a central location for support of faculty research, and to foster and facilitate scientific interactions between and among undergraduates, graduate students, technical staff, postdocs, and faculty. The Division teaches techniques and approaches in molecular biology, protein chemistry, cell biology, and microscopy.

The Division is in an ongoing process of adding to its faculty and technical support personnel. Kenneth Nelson, Ph.D., is the present Director of the Division and teaches the nucleic acids courses. Joseph Wolenski, Ph.D., teaches the protein chemistry and cell biology courses. In addition to the course offerings during the regular semesters, summer short courses in current methods of molecular biology and protein chemistry for Medical Research Fellows, Industrial Scientists, and High School Teachers are taught.

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THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

The Peabody Museum of Natural History is one of the largest natural history museums in the country, with important research collections in all areas of zoology, botany, and paleontology, together with geology, anthropology, and archeology.

Further information on Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

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LIBRARY FACILITIES

Kline Biology Tower houses the Kline Science Library, the major anthropology, biology, biochemistry, and physics library on campus. Research librarians are available to help in all aspects of library research, including computer literature searches. Together with adjacent libraries in Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology and Geophysics, and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the library complex on Science Hill consists of approximately one million volumes. This is supplemented by related material in the central University library, Sterling Memorial Library, and the library of the Medical School. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, located just a few blocks from Yale, also maintains an extensive collection of books and journals.

Further information on Yale Science Libraries.

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Marsh Botanic Gardens

Marsh Botanic Gardens supports research and instruction for MCDB, EEB and other departments and schools here at Yale.

Further information on Marsh Botanic Gardens.

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Updated: October 28, 2010