Enhancing Biomedical Infrastructure and researcher Capacity through the Acquisition of Class II, Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets

Principal Investigator: Tinoco, Arthur D. Project Abstract Funds are being requested for the purchase of three REDISHIP Purifier® Logic®+ Class II A2 Biosafety cabinets to replace three obsolete cabinets and renovate a Cell Culture Facility within a developing Omics Center at the Facundo Bueso Research Building of the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus. This renovation is part of a bigger vision to modernize STEM infrastructure and encourage interdepartmental communication at the university to counter the debilitating events of recent natural disasters and major economic budget cuts and expand researcher capacity and bandwidth by providing additional resources and tools that will foster research student development and fortify and enhance the training of biomedically oriented laboratories. The cabinets will be used for studies involving mammalian cells/tissue with two of the cabinets located in a room exclusively dedicated to research and the third in a separate room primarily for training and, as needed, to also accommodate any temporary/emergency researcher needs. A diverse team of End User researchers spanning different departments and campuses has been established consisting of Drs. Tinoco, Díaz Ayala, Díaz Vázquez, Colón, Weiner, Cunci, Montes, Rodríguez Berríos, Griebenow, Peterson, and Fernández Vega. This team consists of early career and senior level researchers combining a wide spectrum of expertise judiciously selected to facilitate a variety of experiments through interdisciplinary collaborations. Research projects by this team will address important health-related questions by engaging in drug development and delivery, mechanistic studies in cancer biology, and the design and testing of sensors for detection of human ailments. With dedicated space for training, several training modules for performing different types of cell-based experiments will be created to enrich End User laboratories with more in-depth technical orientation. Access to the Cell Culture Facility will be promoted to other investigators in the different departments of the College of Natural Sciences and, where possible, nearby universities. Additional users will be recruited through introductory trainings that will be offered to faculty and students of the NIH RISE program, the Chemistry and Biology graduate programs, and the summer high school and undergraduate internships (for example ACS Project SEED and REU: PR-CLIMB). Other trainings may be possible through STEM education efforts such as the creation of a new laboratory experience for the Chemistry Department Biochemistry Lab course.