Facility to expand for DNA studies
With the ever-increasing national popularity and challenges of DNA research, one University facility is expanding its dimensions to make room for further research and future discoveries.
The Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository received $9.6 million in federal grants last week to expand their research facility on Busch campus, according to a Science Works For US press release.
RUCDR is a key facility in DNA research that looks to discover causes for genetic diseases with the highest quality biomaterials, according to its Web site.
Scientific Director of RUCDR Jay Tischfield said in an e-mail correspondence that the facility is vital in processing blood samples in order to discover causes for diseases such as schizophrenia and diabetes.
"The RUCDR receives samples from all over the world … and we process this blood to DNA, RNA, cell lines and protein," he said. "We then send processed materials back to the submitter for their research, and we serve as a central repository to distribute the remaining samples to the broad scientific community."
Tischfield said the expansion of RUCDR is needed because they are doubling in size every two to three years.
"Existing storage facilities are full and processing laboratories do not have sufficient capacity to handle the volume of samples," he said. "Expansion will enable us to conduct the projects of the future, the volume of the future and to hire many new employees."
Associate Director of Technology Development Andrew Brooks said the expansion would have happened even if the repository did not receive the federal funding.
"We were preparing to do this expansion with or without the federal funding," he said. "The federal funding affords us the opportunity to vie for other grant opportunities and to also keep our services in line and competitive in what we do."
There are two parts of the expansion, the first involving the addition of cryogenic storage facility used for such high quality biomaterials as DNA, RNA and plasma, said Associate Managing Director of RUCDR David Toke via e-mail correspondence.
"This project has spanned three years from the design phase, site selection and construction," Toke said. "This state-of-the-art facility is to be completed sometime early this summer."
Tischfield described what this first construction phase would entail.
"The construction of Annex Two will hold our nearly 75 to 80 degrees Celsius freezers full of DNA and other bio specimens," he said. "This will be a 5,000 square-foot structure on the back of Nelson Biological Labs [on Busch campus]."
Toke said Phase Two of the construction would involve the demolition and renovation of the C Wing in Nelson Biological Labs. He said this 11,000 square-foot structure would hold the RUCDR Nucleic Acid Separation and Analysis laboratory. By the middle of 2011, it would be completed.
"A large open laboratory floor plan will allow for the location of automated nucleic acid extraction robots, in addition to high throughput liquid handling robots, used in the preparation and distribution of biomaterials," he said. "[The biomaterials would be distributed] to [National Institutes of Health] approved researchers investigating the underlying causes for a number of complex genetic diseases."
Tischfield added that the new C-wing would not only offer robots to help with a high-throughput screening of samples but also offer room for members to work together more efficiently.
"There will be office space and conference space for genetics department faculty members who do computational research in genetics," he said. "These individuals will now have adjacent spaces in which they can collaborate and share ideas among themselves and with students and support the analytical mission of the RUCDR."
Tischfield also focused on the importance of the RUCDR at the University, especially when the nation is fighting a dire fiscal situation.
"The RUCDR feeds and nurtures the research and academic missions of Rutgers, but it also provides great economic value on campus and within the state. This is particularly important at a time when we are in an economic recession," he said. "Over the last decade, the RUCDR has brought about $200 million of research money into the Rutgers community."
The benefits of expanding RUCDR are numerous, and it will help in discovering more causes for genetic diseases than they have already uncovered, he said.
"The RUCDR has provided the materials and some of the analyses that have led to finding genes responsible for autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as well as alcoholism and drug abuse," he said. "Not only are we helping to find the causes of these diseases, but we are also putting Rutgers on the map as a major player in human genetic disorders."
With the dim outlook on jobs in the United States, a benefit from the expansion would create employment opportunities, Tischfield said.
"The RUCDR provides jobs for some students but even more students after they graduate," he said. "All of the building provides construction jobs and jobs for the people who will maintain the buildings, ranging from heating to landscaping."
The RUCDR is a major role in the analysis of DNA, and cell research has grown tremendously over the years, which will increase even more with the expansion, Tischfield said.
"In recent years, the RUCDR has been conducting more molecular analyses of the samples that we produce," he said. "Plus, we now play an even bigger role in research aimed at understanding the genetic causes of the most common diseases that take the greatest toll on mankind."
