There are eight research projects for the researchers to choose from.
Choice will be dictated by a combination of the initial skills audit, orientation
workshop and the personal preferences of the trainees. The projects
will employ at least 4 of 6 post-genomic technical platforms provided by
the School’s core facilities, which are led by members of staff who are
part of this training programme. Each core facility is housed in
its own customised central laboratory and supported by at least one Senior
Experimental Officer and one Senior Technician who provide training, in
addition to that by academic staff, in experimental design, operating the
instrumentation, and data analysis.
Technical platforms
1. Microarray NERC Facility (ARC , LS) Projects A, B, D
Two robotic contact print units (BioRobotics (now Genomics Solutions) MG2,
48 pins and Compact, 16 pins), non-contact array-printing (ArrayJet), Febit
Geniom 1 oligo array fabrication unit, 3 liquid handling robots (Packard
Amp11E (now Perkin-Elmer) with gripper, MWG Roboseq 4204S, and a Hamilton
MicroLab Star), 2 fluorescence scanners, Hi-Light RLS imaging system (formerly
Qiagen now Invitrogen), Agilent 2100 Bioanalyser, a Corbett RT-PCR thermocycler,
a range of ABI and MJ thermocyclers, experience of array fabrication, (cDNA
and oligo) includes printing up to 24,000 probes (or up to 3 x 8000 replicate
arrays) on each slide. Arrays supplied not only widely in UK, but
also Rennes, Uppsala, Berlin, Wageningen, Hong Kong. Holdings include 30,000
oligo fingerprinted zebrafish cDNA clones produced at the RZPD, Berlin,
16,000 zebrafish oligos (Aldrich-Compugen) and ~6,000 C. elegans RNAi clones
for whole genome knockout experiment from MRC GeneService.
2. Proteomics (HHR, MCW) Projects B-E, H
2-D Gel Electrophoresis Laboratory for protein separations (two 2-D Dodeca
electophoresis systems, Pgphor, densitometer imager: mass prep digestion/spotting
robot; 3-wavelength fluorescence imager for differential gel electrophoresis);
three mass spectrometers include Micromass Nano-LC-Q-TOF and MALDI-TOF;
local Mascot and global server search engines.
3. Protein chemistry, expression and interactions (MCW, DGF) Projects B-H
Protein Sequencer, BioCad 2D HPLC workstation, multiple HPLCs including
3 AKTA and 3 System Gold/24 Karat. MRC-funded prokaryotic protein
expression suite, mammalian tissue culture suite with high culture capacity.
3 optical biosensors, quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation, Farfield
dual polarisation interferometer.
4. Bioinformatics and modelling (ARC, DJR, MJF) Projects A-H
The University of Liverpool is well-equipped to meet the computational
demands of the proposed bioinformatics work. A suite of 10 Dell twin-processor
Biolinux machines, each with 160GB disc and 1GB RAM, suitable for database
searching, molecular modelling and graphical analysis has recently been
installed in the School of Biological Sciences. A 30 machine suite is installed
in the nearby Medical School. Together this makes up a key node of
the Wolfson/NorthWest Institute for BioHealth Informatics. For the
most computationally intensive aspects, ready access is available to a
40 node twin-processor Linux cluster and shared access to a 940 node cluster
of similar machines a further option. Centralised access to a Windows
XP server service, with associated storage and backup facilities is provided
by the Computer Services Department.
5. Model organisms and systems C. elegans, zebrafish, embryonic stem cells
(TK, PAM, LS, ARC, MJF, HHR) Projects A-E, G, H
Specialist laboratory suites for culture and analysis of reporters, “trangenes”
and phenotypes, e.g., fluorescence stereomicroscope with GFP and RFP filters;
3 stereomicroscopes Zeiss Stemi2000C with digital cameras, microinjectors,
micromanipulators (for making transgenics, injecting dsRNA (RNAi)).
6. Imaging of molecular function in single living cells (DGS, MRHW) Projects
D, F, G
The Centre for Cell Imaging has a suite of rooms specifically designed
for collecting data based on light capture. Six microscopes equipped with
cameras capable of very low light level imaging of lucifereases are used
to report on promoter activity in whole organisms or individual cells.
Each microscope is also equipped with tissue culture facilities so that
cells can be imaged either by transmission, fluorescence or luminescence
imaging over long periods of time. Microinjection facilities may be used
on any of the microscopes for introducing expression vectors or other molecules
into individual cells. Facilities are available to uncage molecules either
in individual cell compartments or whole microscope fields. Three of the
microscopes are equipped with state of the art laser scanning confocal
imaging systems capable of capturing data from multiple fluorescent reporters
in 3 dimensions over time. Sophisticated software is available to extract
relevant data from the captured images.