Biomolecular Core Facility

Biomolecular Core Facility offers construction of bespoke lentiviral vectors, lentiviral packaging, RNA and DNA analysis.

Biomolecular Core can revolutionize your research by providing access to state-of-the-art techniques and procedures. We are experts in:

  • Quantitative real-time PCR
  • Manipulation of lentiviral vectors including overexpression and knockdown of gene expression
  • Fluorescence scanning

Biomolecular Core Facility offers customized production of viral vectors and fully accessible bookable equipment 

Viral vectors

Viruses are ideal vectors to deliver cargo that can manipulate cellular gene expression in vitro and in vivo. Delivery is achieved either via a defined cellular receptor, e.g. adenovirus binds the coxsackie receptor (CAR), or for lentivirus by membrane fusion. Sertoli SK11 cells transfected with plasmid or infected with adenovirus carrying beta-galactosidase Adenovirus is very efficient at infecting cells, and has been used to successfully manipulate testicular Sertoli (SK11) cells in vitro. Previously Sertoli cells had proved intractable to genetic manipulation by conventional means, but are efficiently infected by adenovirus. However, adenovirus remains episomal, it does not integrate into the cellular DNA, and expression levels of the introduced gene/cargo eventually diminishes as cells divide, which renders them unsuitable for long term studies. Lentivirus integrates into the host genome, which makes them an excellent choice for longitudional studies of gene expression. Furthermore, lentiviral host range can be expanded by pseudotyping, which substitutes the viral envelope with an alternative capable of fusing with a wide variety of targets and species.

These properties and the ability to transduce dividing and non-dividing cells, and the manipulability of the viral genome have driven us to develop and use lentivirus as vectors to introduce DNA to mark and manipulate gene expression in cells and tissues. The facility is wholly responsible for the customised design of untagged and fluorescently tagged DNA expression constructs encoding cDNAs, short-hairpin RNAs and miRNAs and production of small and bulk and lentivirus vector preparations.

Bookable equipment

  • Applied Biosystem 7900HT Fast real-time PCR
  • Applied Biosystem Quantstudio 5 96 well
  • Applied Biosystem Quantstudio 5 384 well
  • Roche LC96 real-time PCR
  • Fuji Film FLA 5100 fluorescence scanner imaging system
  • LI-COR Odyssey Fc-chemi
  • BioRad Bio-Plex 200 HTF multiplex assay system (Luminex)
  • BMG Labtech Clariostar microplate reader
  • Perkin Elmer Labchip GX24

Lentiviral vectors

Lentiviral vectors are highly versatile cargo delivery vehicles that can manipulate gene expression and fluorescently mark cells in vitro and in vivo.  We hold in house trial stocks of lentiviral and adenoviral vectors that can be tested in your experimental system before customizing to your individual project requirements. Our methods and approach are backed up by proven expertise evidenced by years of experience and publications and we can offer a choice of numerous fluorescent tags; different expression systems, including a choice of promoter and inducibility and either over expression of your gene of interest or knock-down.

Biomolecular Core Facility is open for internal and external users.

General enquiries email Pam.Brown@ed.ac.uk.

For more information, please visit the Biomolecular Core Facility.

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