Shared Research Facilities and Equipment

The Marine Magnetic Resonance Facility houses a 4.7 T 40 cm bore horizontal magnet. The flexibility of the instrument allows scientists to study questions ranging from how sea food spoils, to how toxins, drugs or even environmental stressors affect the physiology and biochemistry of marine animals.

The UNC Department of Chemistry Chemical Research Instrumentation Teaching and Core Laboratories (CRITCL) Mass Spectrometry facility specializes in small molecule analysis.;Our services include, but are not limited to, quantitative mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography separations, fragmentation and structural elucidation (MS/MS, MSn) mass spectrometry, complex mixture analysis,;molecular formula confirmation (high resolution and accurate mass) analysis, & trace metal determination/quantitation.;The mass spectrometry facility provides individualized user training for undergraduate, graduate, and post-docotoral scholars of the Department of Chemistry.;In addition, the facility aims to provide the highest quality mass spectrometric services possible to members of the UNC Chapel Hill Department of Chemistry, UNC campus community and surrounding Research Triangle areas.

XCL primarily functions as a service crystallographic facility for the University and are actively collaborating with Department of Chemistry, Inorganic, Organic, and Material Division, Physics and Astronomy, biology, as well as the School of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine. The facility houses a single Crystal X-ray diffractometer, Bruker SMART Apex II, which is fully maintained by the XCL Director. Service includes SC-XRD structure determination and various PXRD techniques, and user training is available for both SC- and powder XRD techniques. Additional experiments at Argonne National Laboratory, SCrAPS – Synchrotron Crystallography at Advanced Photon Source, are carried out three times a year for samples that diffract too weakly using the conventional radiation source at the facility. XCL provides both client- and user-based services where clients enjoy the convenience of the service, and users gain privilege and flexibilities in instrument operation, data collection, and structure solution and refinement with or without the assistance of the XCL personnel. To become a proficient user, requirements such as passing the X-ray Crystallography course as well as instrument-specific and safety training and exams need to be fulfilled.

The Duke Chemistry Instrumentation Facility houses modern and diverse instrumentation for a range of analytical needs, including mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, and a variety of spectroscopies. Most instruments in the instrument laboratories are available for researchers on a direct-walk-up basis once they have received the required training from the Facility’s director. Reservations for many instruments can be made on-line by a qualified user once they have been provided access to the calendars by the Facility’s director.

The Share Resource serves Duke and non-Duke researchers with Illumina (Hiseq 2000/2500 and MiSeq), Ion Torrent (PGM and Proton), and PacBio sequencing.

The Duke Microbiome Shared Resource provides a centralized resource hub to enhance the existing interactions with the Duke Microbiome Center, Duke Cancer Institute, and Genomic and Computational Biology shared resources to address the role of microbial systems in human healthcare, food production and environmental restoration. This resource will provide access to a variety of services that will enable researchers to focus on microbial communities (bacteria, fungi and virus), immune oncology, cancer research and infectious disease.

The Bioinformatics Services Division (BiSD) of UNC Charlotte provides a wide range of bioinformatics services to the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), UNC Charlotte and other life science companies throughout the country. Located on the NCRC in Kannapolis, North Carolina, our experienced team is adept at analyzing and interpreting the volumes of data produced by today's genomic technologies. Whether you are just considering a new project and need some advice or you already have a pile of data that you need to make sense of, we would be happy to talk with you.

The Duke Small Animal Irradiator Service Center facilities include a variety of different irradiator units which offers investigators several options for the irradiation of both cells and small animals. The available facilities are comprised of four X-ray units. The core contains two X-RAD 320s, one X-RAD 160, and one X-RAD 225cx irradiator available for the irradiation of both small animals and cells. Safety, quality assurance, and dosimetry are provided in collaboration with the Duke Radiation Safety Division.

User-operated Aviv 62DS CD Spectropolarimeter with automated titrator, thermoelectric temperature control, simultaneous fluorescence and CD detection. Staff-operated Beckman XL-A analytical ultracentrifuge for sedimentation equilibrium and velocity. User fees apply.

Molecular genetics analysis including genotyping of populations for molecular markers analysis, QTL analysis and marker-assisted selection. The real-time PCR can be used for gene expression analysis. All investigators working at Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center (MHCREC) will have free access to use any of these equipment for their research. However, they will have to schedule their time in coordination with the technician from the tomato breeding program. Investigators from outside the MHCREC are also encouraged to use the research facility whenever necessary. All users are expected to contribute supplies, particularly QIAxcel cartridge, micro plates, grinding beads, and tubes.