High-throughput Bioscience Center (HTBC)

http://htbc.stanford.edu

Facility Director: David E. Solow-Cordero, PhD
Executive Director: James K. Chen, PhD

Contact

David E. Solow-Cordero, PhD
Director, High-throughput Bioscience Center
Room 0133, CCSR Building
Stanford, CA 94305-5174
Tel: (650) 725-6002
Fax: (650) 725-6003
E-mail: desolow@stanford.edu

Lab:  Room 0133, CCSR Building
Tel: (650) 736-7638

Overview

The High-throughput Bioscience Center (HTBC) provides researchers with the ability to run high-throughput chemical and genetic screens of biological systems.  Utilizing the HTBC, Stanford Cancer Center (SCC) researchers have the opportunity to discover chemical modulators of oncogenic mechanisms and to identify new therapeutic targets. Supported research activities include the use of: (1) chemical libraries for the identification of small molecule modulators of specific biological processes; (2) siRNA libraries for targeted gene silencing; and (3) cDNA libraries for in vivo or in vitro protein expression.  A variety of high-throughput instrumentation are also available for SCCC researchers, including microplate liquid-handling robots, a high-throughput molecular biology workstation, multi-label microplate readers, and a microplate-compatible epi-fluorescence microscope.  Reagents include over 130,000 small molecules for compound screens, 21,000 siRNA pools targeting the entire human genome, and 8000 cDNAs for gene expression screens

Services

The Stanford HTBC offers the following services. All are currently offered to SCCC researchers.

1. Fully automated high-throughput screening of compound libraries for both enzyme/protein based assays and cell based assays, using the Caliper Life Sciences Staccato system.
2. Genomic siRNA screening with the siARRAY whole human genome siRNA library from ThermoFisher Scientific (formerly Dharmacon) targeting 21,000 genes.
3. High-content screening using the Axon ImageXpress and image analysis using the MetaXpress software.
4. High-throughput molecular biology reagents and services including access to cDNA libraries (Human ORFeome collection) and high-throughput cDNA purifications using the Qiagen BioRobot 3000.
5. High-throughput assay development assistance with cell culture, experiment design, robotic programming, and Standard Operating Procedure drafting.
6. Screening data analysis assistance with protocols, hit determination, and structure activity analyses using the MDL chemical database ISIS/HOST, Plate Manager, Assay Explorer and Report Manager.   
7. Use of microplate reader detection systems including the Molecular Devices Analyst GT for fluorescence, fluorescence polarization, time-resolved fluorescence, absorbance, and luminescence, the Flexstation II 384, for kinetic fluorescence reads to measure calcium mobilization and ion channels, and the EG&G Berthold LB96B dual injector luminometer.
8. Use of liquid handling robots, including the Sciclone ALH3000 (96- and 384-well pipetting), Velocity11 VPrep (96-well pipetting), Bio-Tek plate washers, Qiagen BioRobot 3000, Matrix Wellmate and Titertek Multidrop microplate dispensers, and Velocity11 PlateLoc plate heat sealer.

Operation

The HTBC is located in the CCSR building North Wing, Room 0133, between the Transgenic Mouse Facility and the Immune Monitoring Core.  The ImageXpress 5000A and a MetaXpress analysis computer are located in CCSR 0116 and an additional analysis computer is located in CCSR 3126.  Usual business hours 9 AM to 5 PM, but after hours access to the resources can be obtained by contacting the HTBC Director, David E. Solow-Cordero, PhD.

Procedures

Requests for services are fielded by the HTBC Director, David E. Solow-Cordero, PhD.  Requests for instrumentation usage can be processed very quickly with the requirements of only a signed HTBC Registration form and a short training session.  For potential screens, users will meet with Dr. Solow-Cordero to discuss all aspects of the proposed project.  Once a signed HTBC Registration form is provided, initial experiments can be performed to test the feasibility of the screening assay.  Upon assay validation, users can request approval for access to the screening queue.