The Emory+ Children’s Pediatric Research Center affiliated Core Facilities
Contents
Pediatric Cores Overview
2
The Pediatric Animal Physiology Core
2
The Pediatric Biomarkers Core
3
The Pediatric Biorepository Core
3
The Pediatric Biostatistical Core
3
Cardiovascular Imaging Research Core (CIRC)
3
The Pediatric Immunology Core
3
The General Equipment & Specimen Processing Core
3
The Pediatric Flow Cytometry Core
Error! Bookmark not defined.
The Pediatrics/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cell Imaging Core
4
Primate Colony Core
5
The Grant Editing and Manuscript Support Core
5
1
Pediatric Cores Overview
Short Version
The Emory+ Children’s Pediatric Research Center affiliated core facilities are available to pediatric researchers
at a significantly reduced or fully subsidized cost offering access to instruments, technologies, services, and
expert consultation to biomedical and behavioral investigators. The cores currently available for researchers’
use include Pediatric Animal Physiology; Biomarkers; Biomechanics; Biorepository; Biostatistics/Data
Management; Cardiovascular Imaging Research; General Equipment and Specimen Processing; Grant Editing
and Manuscript Support; Flow Cytometry; Pediatrics/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cell Imaging; Pediatric
Immunology; and the Primate Colony.
Intermediate Version
The Research Center affiliated core facilities are available to pediatric researchers at a significantly reduced or
fully subsidized cost offering access to instruments, technologies, services, and expert consultation to
biomedical and behavioral investigators. The cores currently available for researchers’ include:

The Pediatric Animal Physiology Core is a centralized resource designed to provide pediatric
researchers with ready and available access to survival surgery for rats and mice, as well as USDA
regulated animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and piglets.

Biomarker Core - provides the equipment and technical expertise to perform small-molecule
metabolite profile identification including analysis of markers related to oxidative stress. This core
provides equipment and technical expertise to assay samples using methods that combine the features
of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Biorepository Core - provides state of the art equipment and up-to-date technology to provide
centralized processing, storage, and distribution of biological samples such as blood, tissue, and
biological fluids used in pediatric research.

Biostatistical Core – provides assistance to investigators for analytic help and statistical methodology
for study design, grant proposal preparation and manuscript preparation; database design for data
collection is also available.

Cardiovascular Imaging Research Core (CIRC) – provides non-invasive cardiac support for
investigators involved in clinical research involving infants, children and adolescents. The CIRC has
dedicated space, equipment and staff to provide quality cardiovascular imaging data that is collected in
a meticulous, systematic, detail-orientated manner.

General Equipment Core and Specimen Processing– common use equipment such as
ultracentrifuges, RT-PCR, gel documentation systems, TopCount system, developer and specimen
processing resources.

The Pediatric Immunology Core provides equipment and technical expertise for the performance of
immunologic assays and diagnostic assays for infectious pathogens.

The Pediatric Flow Cytometry Core provides cytometry services for the analysis and sorting of cells
as well as expert consultation for experimental design and planning.

Cell Imaging Core provides the equipment and technical expertise needed for cutting-edge cellular
imaging technologies.

Primate Colony Core supports an MHC-defined Rhesus macaque colony at Yerkes with
approximately 53 founder animals (30 mating dams, 3 mating sires and 20 offspring).

The Grant Editing/Manuscript Support Core is a Pediatrics Research Office Core available to
pediatric researchers. The goal of this core is to assist with finalizing extramural grant applications
and/or manuscripts reporting data generated from extramurally funded research programs.
Long Version
The Research Center affiliated core facilities are available to pediatric researchers at a significantly reduced or
fully subsidized cost offering access to instruments, technologies, services, and expert consultation to
biomedical and behavioral investigators. The cores currently available for researchers’ use include:
The Pediatric Animal Physiology Core is a centralized resource specializing in survival surgery for rats and
mice in addition to USDA regulated animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and piglets. Dedicated surgical space
2
is available for the latter group of animals. The core director assists all investigators with development of
IACUC protocols. Surgical services currently offered by the Core include pulmonary banding in rat and
neonatal rabbit, aortic banding, myocardial infarction, and intramyocardial injections (echo-guided or open
chest). The core is equipped with a small animal ventilator, cauterizing equipment, temperature monitoring, an
anesthesia system and a dissection microscope.
The Pediatric Biomarkers Core facility provides the equipment and technical expertise to assay samples
using methods that combine the features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. These core
services are applicable to a wide variety of sample types and will allow small-molecule metabolite profile
identification. The Core has an Agilent gas chromatography/mass spectrometer and a Waters High
Performance Liquid Chromatography with fluorescence detector. The Biomarkers Core currently performs
analysis of biomarkers of oxidative stress including reduced and oxidized glutathione, cysteine, cystine,
isoprostanes, hydroxynonenals, and malonyldialdehydes. This core also analyzes Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters
(FAEE) from biological samples such as meconium, hair, placenta, blood, plasma as markers of alcohol use
and exposure. The core is located in the Emory Children’s Center Research building.
The Pediatric Biorepository Core provides state of the art equipment and up-to-date technology to provide
centralized processing, storage, and distribution of biological samples such as blood, tissue, and biological
fluids used in pediatric research. Services include short term sample storage and specimen archiving in a
variety of monitored storage media. The Core uses the Nautilus LIMS System for electronic specimen
tracking.
The Pediatric Biostatistical Core provides assistance to investigators for analytic help and statistical
methodology for study design, grant proposal preparation and manuscript preparation. The primary mission of
this Biostatistical Core is to assist investigators in statistical methods and applications required for grant
submissions, together with a secondary responsibility for analytical help used in the preparation of
manuscripts. More advanced, ongoing, or involved biostatistical help can be accessed through the Core but
will require financial input from the investigator or team. The Core serves as a means for investigators to
access appropriate specialized statistical personnel in Rollins School of Public Health, including a PhD-level
biostatistician and soon we will also have a data analyst on staff to assist in the design of simple research
databases. While assistance in the design of simple databases will be provided in the near future, data entry
assistance will not be provided via this core. It is envisioned that over time the Biostatistical core will expand
and become a central resource directed by the leadership of the Pediatric Outcomes/Wellness Center.
Cardiovascular Imaging Research Core (CIRC) provides non-invasive cardiac support for investigators
involved in clinical research involving infants, children and adolescents. The CIRC has dedicated space,
equipment and staff to provide quality cardiovascular imaging data that is collected in a meticulous, systematic,
detail-orientated manner. The CIRC is equipped to perform complete and limited Non-Congenital-, complete &
limited congenital-, flow doppler-, 3-D imaging- and strain and tissue doppler functional imagingechocardiograms; stress echocardiograms and electrocardiograms.
The Pediatric Immunology Core provides equipment and technical expertise for the performance of
immunologic assays and diagnostic assays for infectious pathogens. The core mission is to enhance the ability
of investigators at Children’s and affiliated institutions to perform research in the areas of immunology, vaccine
testing, and infectious diseases. The Core has available a Zeiss automated ELISPOT reader and software, a
Luminex 200 multiplex bead array system, a Becton-Dickinson (BD) LSR II or the FACSCanto analyzers for
intracellular cytokine staining, small equipment and tabletop centrifuges for specimen processing, an Applied
Biosystems plate-based real-time PCR machine and a Baker 4-ft biosafety cabinet for clinical specimen
preparation. Services offered by the Core include Enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) assays,
intracellular cytokine staining, Luminex multiplex bead array for detection of cytokines, antibody quantitation,
Real-time PCR for cytokine message, pathogens, other needs and sample processing and shipping for
immunology specimens (PBMC preparation, serum, plasma).
The General Equipment & Specimen Processing Core is located within the Emory-Children’s Center
building and offer access to shared equipment and space for processing clinical samples. The common
3
Specimen Processing area provides a generous amount of bench space on the 2nd floor of the EmoryChildren’s Center building for routine processing of specimens and a fully equipped specimen
processing/culture room for work requiring sterile or Biosafety level II conditions. Other features of these cores
include central availability of: Nanodrop Spectrophotometer capable of measuring very low concentrations of
nucleic acids, high performance plate reader capable of measuring absorbance, fluorescence, and
luminescence, gel and blot documentation system capable of supporting chemiluminscent, fluorescent, and
colorimetric samples, infrared imaging system, microplate scintillation and luminescence reader,
electroporator, X-ray film developer, high speed centrifuge, standard 96-well thermocycler and real-time PCR
thermocycler.
Long VERSION
The General Equipment & Specimen Processing Core are located within the Emory-Children’s Center
building and offer access to shared equipment and space for processing clinical samples. Shared equipment
includes the following:
 Refrigerated Table Top Centrifuge
 High Speed Centrifuge
 Standard 96-well thermocycler
 Real-time PCR thermocycler
 Nanodrop Spectrophotometer capable of measuring very low concentrations of nucleic acids
 High performance plate reader capable of measuring absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence
 Gel and blot documentation system capable of supporting chemiluminscent, fluorescent, and
colorimetric samples
 Infrared Imaging System
 Microplate Scintillation and Luminescence reader
 Electroporator
 X-ray film developer
The common Specimen Processing area provides a generous amount of bench space on the 2nd floor of the
Emory-Children’s Center building for routine processing of specimens and a fully equipped specimen
processing/culture room for work requiring sterile or Biosafety level II conditions. Features of the Specimen
Processing Core include:
 6-ft Biological Safety Cabinet
 2 cell culture incubators
 Refrigerated centrifuge ideal for cell culture and processing clinical specimens and microcentrifuges
 Microscopes for dissection and for monitoring cultures
 Ultrasonic processor for preparing cell lysates and shearing nucleic acids
Pediatric Flow Cytometry Core provides cytometry services for the analysis and sorting of cells as well as
expert consultation for experimental design and planning. The core has three analyzers, two BD LSR IIs with 4
lasers (405nm, 488nm, 561nm and 640nm) capable of detecting 13 fluorochromes, and a BD FACSCanto II
(405nm, 488nm and 640nm) with 8 fluorescent detectors. Cell enrichment or depletion is possible using a
Miltenyi AutoMacs Pro system and operator assisted cell sorting is provided on a BD FACSAria II with 4 lasers
(405nm, 488nm, 561nm and 640nm) capable of detecting 13 fluorochromes. Sorting of potentially
biohazardous samples may be performed on the FacsAria II or on a FacsJazz (488nm and 640nm; 6
fluorochromes) that is located in a biosafety cabinet. The core is located in the Emory Children’s Center and is
accessible to researchers 24hrs a day by keycard.
The Pediatrics/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cell Imaging Core provides the equipment and technical
expertise needed for cutting-edge cellular imaging technologies. The core has an Olympus FV1000 confocal laser
scanning microscope with a live imaging chamber. The Fluoview hardware allows for positive fluorescence imaging
by FRAP, PA-FGP, uncaging, and FLIP. The Fluoview image analysis software performs scanning modes, FRET,
photo stimulation and colocalization. The core also includes a second Olympus microscope with a CCD camera
4
and MetaMorph software for live cell imaging by TIRF microscopy. The imaging core is located on the third floor of
the Children’s Research Center.
Primate Colony Core supports an MHC-defined Rhesus macaque colony at Yerkes with approximately 53 founder
animals (30 mating dams, 3 mating sires and 20 offspring).
EXPAND
The Grant Editing and Manuscript Support Core provides in-house expertise, coaching and education on
grant application strategies and in manuscript and grant editing. Two in-house PhD scientists with strong
organizational skill sets staff the Grant Editing and Manuscript Support Core and work directly with
investigators to target appropriate funding mechanisms, help strategize on suitable application submission
timing, connect researchers to necessary resources (i.e. the Pediatric Cores and other resources on Emory
campus) and ensure grant applications and manuscript submissions are well structured and polished. Taken
together, the credentials of this group including strong scientific backgrounds and solid administrative expertise
position them well to effectively facilitate strong and competitive grant application submissions geared towards
growing individual and collaborative child health related research programs.
5