Bioinformatics Shared Resource is the bioinformatics core of Georgia Cancer Center

Core offers pathology services to prepare and stain animal and human tissue for basic and clinical research.

Core provides equipment, expertise, and training for researchers to assess rodent vision in vivo. Offers technical expertise, training, and instrumentation for in vivo visual function assessment in animal models including rodents.

Core provides collection, annotation, and storage solutions. This Biorepository is also home to a state-wide resource, the Biorepository Alliance of Georgia for Oncology (BRAG-Onc), which functions to collect samples from 6 participating sites across the State to represent the diversity of cancer patients within the State and to enhance cancer research in Georgia.Tissue specimens are fast-frozen in vapor phase liquid nitrogen to preserve their integrity and stored in large cryofreezers at -170 to -190°C. Blood is routinely separated into serum or plasma and buffy coats prior to freezing. Blood derivatives are stored at -70 to -80°C. The freezers are monitored constantly and are connected to an alarm system to ensure that the low temperatures are maintained.

Core provides services including body/bone composition, comprehensive assessments of cardiovascular health (conduit vessel, microvascular, and central arterial stiffness), comprehensive assessment of lung health (spirometry, diffusion, lung clearance index, exhaled NO), and metabolic/exercise testing. Expanded core services in humans include oral glucose tolerance testing and continuous glucose monitoring, 24h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and assessments of autonomic nervous system, cognitive function, mitochondrial function, intramuscular fat, and electrocardiograms.

Core provides services in gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9 approach, services on preserving lines by cryopreservation of sperms, and resurrecting mouse lines using in vitro fertilization (IVF) or embryo transfer. Additional services include rederivation to create pathogen-free mouse lines, developing molecular reagents for genetic engineering, and providing expert advice on mouse genetics and breeding schemes.

Core provides bioinformatics support for genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and other high-throughput data. Offers data analysis, pipeline development, and consultation services to researchers across disciplines, with focus on reproducibility, scalability, and collaboration.

Core provides preclinical imaging and radiation treatment resources for animal research.

Core provides services for researchers in need of behavioral analyses in small animals (specifically mice or rats). Core provides expertise in design and implementation of behavioral experiments as well as data analysis and interpretation. Core is equipped to accommodate behavioral tests relevant to learning and memory, attention, executive function, sensory gating, place/fear conditioning, motor function, nociception, and anxiety and depression-related behaviors etc. Testing facility is operated within centralized animal care program of Division of Laboratory Animal Services.

Core offers variety of specimen preparation services for transmission and scanning electron microscopy, vibratome, paraffin, cryostat and JB-4 sectioning.Offers routine staining and various histological special stains, PASH, Masson Trichrome, Van Gieson and many others, immunohistochemical services including immuno-EM studies. Core staff performs all aspects of the ultrastructural procedures from specimen processing to imaging (for Electron Microscopy, TEM and SEM) and processing, sectioning, and staining for light microscopy (paraffin, cryostat, and JB-4).

Core provides imaging and expert technical assistance and instrumentation in support of investigators.

Core offers services from sample processing from both fresh and frozen, as well as fixed cells or tissues to library preparation and next-generation sequencing (NGS) for bulk DNA/RNA sequencing and single-cell/nuclei sequencing. For single-cell studies, core is equipped with Chromium X system from 10X Genomics. Sequencing capabilities include Illumina Novaseq6000 and NextSeq 500. Offers single cell spatial transcriptomics with CosMx SMI platform. Other equipped includes CytAssit instrument from 10X genomics for VISIUM spatial transcriptomic and QIAConnect from Qiagen for nucleic acid and protein extraction.

Core offers services including assay development, FDA-drug library screening, unbiased compound screening, high-content imaging and screening. Facility can empower researchers to repurpose existing FDA-approved drugs and discover new compounds for drug development. Provides affordable platform for discovering therapeutic targets and interventions, supporting drug development from target identification to screening and validation. Features HTS facilities, including Biomek i7 Liquid Handling system, Pherastar FSX plate reader, ImageXpress Micro Confocal, and Pala cell sorter.