Molecular Mechanisms

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT MOLECULAR MECHANISMS CORE The Pennington/Louisiana NORC promotes research under the theme of “Nutrition, Obesity, and Metabolic Health through the Lifespan”. Within that theme, the NORC Molecular Mechanisms Core seeks to facilitate research progress by providing NORC Members with access to modern biomedical research technology that typically exceed the capabilities of individual laboratories, particularly those of investigators at the start of their careers. To understand the molecular etiology that forms the pathogenic framework for obesity and metabolic disease, technologies that capture gene expression -- the driving force of physiology and phenotype -- are of primary necessity for conducting mechanistic research. Therefore, the Molecular Mechanisms Core provides turn-key access to technologies assessing gene expression to NORC investigators. These range from systems-biology level expression profiling in complex RNA mixtures, single cell RNA sequencing to reveal cellular composition and tissue diversity based on gene expression, to high power microscopy and three-dimensional imaging methods to locate gene products, and determine where expression changes occur in response to external factors. Together, these methods provide an integrated mechanistic perspective on how cell and tissue functions are affected by nutrition, obesity, or metabolic disease. The Core offers services built around the general experimental workflow that are organized in three Specific Aims: consulting services on the experimental design and statistical considerations pertaining to molecular bioimaging and functional genomics technology (Aim 1); expertise and direct technological support for experiments (Aim 2); and data processing services and bioinformatics support for molecular bioimaging and functional genomics experiments (Aim 3). Services in all three Aims are based on the expertise, skills, and experience present in the Core leadership and staff, strict quality control measures and instrument maintenance, full transparency in interaction with Core users, and the flexibility to customize protocols to suit the needs of individual NORC-member projects. As the needs of NORC members change and as technology moves ahead, the Core seeks to bring new methods online to serve the needs of current and future NORC investigators.