Idaho State University - Molecular Research Core

The ISU Molecular Research Core Facility (MRCF), with its state-of-the-art instrumentation and ever-expanding array of services, provides ISU's molecular scientists with the resources necessary for successful and productive research pursuits in this rapidly growing field. The MRCF also acts as a center of intellectual exchange for ISU's community of scientists and serves to promote collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches to specific research initiatives.

Since its establishment in 1994, the MRCF has grown continuously with the aid of significant extramural funding from the NIH and NSF, as well as ISU Colleges and the Office of Research. The MRCF underwent a second major expansion during the spring of 2006 due to a recently funded National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (NSF MRI) grant. The first major expansion of the MRCF occurred in the spring of 2002 to accommodate research functions of a National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (NIH BRIN) grant. (For more about the Idaho BRIN grant, see http://www.sci.uidaho.edu/brin).

The MRCF has proven to be of critical importance to ISU investigators in the areas of molecular genetics, microbiology, developmental biology, physiology, anatomy, neurobiology, molecular evolution and systematics, phylogenetics, population genetics, bioinformatics, comparative and computational genetics, and pharmaceutical sciences. In addition, because the MRCF is central to ISU's training of the next generation of molecular scientists, both undergraduate and graduate students use its resources extensively. The MRCF also serves the DNA sequencing and genotyping needs of an increasing number of investigators at other institutions throughout the state and the nation.

Routine activities in the MRCF include automated DNA sequencing and microsatellite analysis (Genotyping), PCR, electrophoresis, and gel documentation and analysis. The MRCF also maintains two advanced, digital imaging microscopy systems; a Leica DMRB fluorescence microscope and a Leica DMRA deconvolution and three-dimensional processing scope.