Research Cores

The Mouse Support Core (Core B) helps to generate, maintain and genotype the various crosses required for in vivo and primary cell studies to better understand pannexin function at a whole organism level and in the context of human disease models. The main purpose of such a centralized mouse core is the effective coordination of the numerous strains used across projects, provide uniformity, more efficient use via enabling multiple analyses on different tissues on the same set of animals, as well as faster demand-driven expansion and contraction of mouse lines.

The Cell Physiology Core (Core C) will provide streamlined services at two levels of cellular analysis to meet the needs of the individual PPG projects. The first level of analysis will focus on the validation of a basic work flow starting from mice, tissues and cells – it will culminate in baseline measurement of Panx1 function in specific cell types using a variety of assays. As projects mature, the core will integrate and disseminate novel techniques and protocols that are developed by the individual projects but are useful to the entire program. By centralizing and standardizing the cell isolation procedures and key cellular assays, Core C will provide expertise and consistent assay quality among the four component Projects in analyzing Panx1 function. In the long run, this approach should lead to highly interpretable and scientifically superior data sets in an efficient manner. Through the meta-analysis of these data, the core and the project leaders will be in a position to identify patterns of salience that would otherwise be elusive to individual projects.