Joseph Vaughan, Assistant Director of Laboratories, has overall responsibility for the day-to-day, operational procedures that support the research that is conducted within our laboratories, including all departmental core facilities, animal colonies and use of space, animal protocols (iACUC), microbiological safety (COMS), radiation use, and controlled substances.
The HSCRB Director of Laboratories retains and combines into a single position a significant portion of the Regulatory Compliance team and management responsibilities regarding Animal and Microbiological Use and Compliance. This includes all animal model research within our department and all cell, tissue and component use within our labs. Experimental animal protocols, COMS registrations are mandated by local, state and federal government policy and the university. In addition, I work with the Office of Technology Development to facilitate all animal-related MTAs involving the import, purchase or transfer and sharing of both animal models and the components and tissues that are used in animal research.
HSCRB accounts for approximately one third of all animal protocols at the university (approximately 45 total for HSCRB). As such I assist our researchers with the establishment of new protocols and protocol amendments, and 3-year renewals. I also oversee and help maintain COMS registrations and assist with new registrations, 5-year rewrites, annual renewals and amendments. Finally, I help facilitate material transfer agreements with OTL for our department and our research community. In this position I am the department’s regulatory liaison and work with the pertinent entities including the IACUC, OAR, COMS and OTD to ensure a conducive compliance environment and processes that are both efficient and seamless for to advance our mission.
Researchers can access the campus’s IACUC eProtocol database at https://harvard.keyusa.net/userLogin.do. Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) oversee the responsible use of animals in research and instructional activities. The committee reviews animal research proposals (i.e. protocols), reviews the animal care and use program, and monitors the animal facilities to ensure compliance with standards and regulatory requirements.
Researchers can access the university’s COMS Registration database at https://coms.hms.harvard.edu/. Committee on Microbiological Safety (COMS) serves as the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) for Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated institutions. The committee oversees all work with COMS regulated materials (CRM).
HSCRB Core Facilities
HSCRB Core Facilities:
Our department offers a number of extensive core facilities under the direction of the HSCRB Director of Laboratories, Joseph Vaughan. Information about each of our cores can be found on the HSCRB website under Core Facilities. Our Cores include:
HSCRB-HSCI Flow Cytometry Core. The HSCRB-HSCI Core is dedicated to mammalian cell sorting and analysis. The Core includes the following instruments: 15-parameter BD FACSAria II “Norman” for four-way sorting and analysis for mid-range cell sorting, 15-parameter BD FACSAria II+ “Mimi” for four-way sorting and analysis customized for small particle to average cell sorting, 15-parameter BD FACSAria III “Bertha” for four-way sorting and analysis customized for average to large cell sorting, and a new 15-parameter BD Symphony 5 for analysis. The facility, located in the Sherman Fairchild Building, is managed by two full-time experienced operators who provide assistance and training on sorters and analyzers.
HSCRB Histology and Imnunohistochemistry Core provides access to expertise in embedding and sectioning tissue and technical expertise. The core is staffed by two full time experienced histologists who provide tech service and training for self-service for all labs both within HSCRB and other departments on campus. The core facility offers a variety of equipment for use in the core including multiple cryostats (Leica), microtomes and vibratomes (Leica), an embedding center, brain slicers and fluorescent microscopes for tissue and pathological analysis.
HSCRB Lab Services Core – The Lab Services Core is staffed to provide your basic laboratory needs. The SCRB facility has 5 glasswash machines, 9 autoclaves, 2 glass pipette processors, a dedicated area for media preparation including a biosafety cabinet and water purification system and has 3-4 staff members for full-service glass wash, media prep and decontamination.
HSCRB Affiliated Core Facilities:
Also within or nearby our department, HSCRB offers additional core facilities under our department and Research Operations umbrella. These include:
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI)’s iPS Core – The iPS Core Facility works with collaborators and clients to generate new disease-specific iPS cell lines and to facilitate their distribution to the biomedical research community. The Core consists of one main molecular biology/biochemistry room and three tissue culture rooms: one for primary cell culture, one for iPS derivation, and one for expansion and banking. These cell culture rooms include: eight biological safety cabinets (one is dedicated to manual picking of iPS colonies); sixteen incubators; 4 Nikon TS100 inverted microscope; and one Nikon SMZ1500 stereo microscope. For storage, the iPS Core has two Cryotanks, two – 80 freezers, four -20 freezers, and four fridges. The molecular biology room includes two PCR machines (GeneAmp PCR system 9700) and two fluorescent microscopes (Olympus CK40 and BX60). The offices include five computers.
HSCI’s Therapeutic Screening Center – The Screening Facility, led by Dr. Lee Rubin, has two HTS liquid handling platforms (CyBio CyBi-well vario systems), each with an integrated incubator hotel (LiCONiC Instruments) and integrated liquid dispenser (Biotek Microplate with stacker); an automated plate sealer and barcoding work station (Velocity 11 BenchCel 4X stacker robot, PlateLoc plate sealer, Vcode barcode reader); an automated microplate processor (Titertek MAP-D); and an automated device for cherry-picking individual compounds (CyBio Robospense). The imaging room equipment includes: an automated confocal high throughput microscope (Evotec/PerkinElmer QEHS- Opera); Cellomics ArrayScan; one multi-mode plate readers for HTS applications – Molecular Devices SpectraMax M5; and a fluorescence microscope (Nikon Eclipse TE2000-S). The Cell Culture Facility contains: 2 extra deep biosafety cabinets which accommodate 2 automated cell plating devices (Biotek uFill with stacker) for plating cells in 96 and 384-well plates; 4 biosafety cabinets and 8 incubators, phase contrast microscope (Nikon TS100) and dissection microscope (Olympus SZX16) for general cell culture needs. The laboratory also contains two liquid nitrogen freezers for frozen cell storage, centrifuges, freezers, and other large equipment needed to perform the proposed experiments.
HSCI’s Genome Modification Facility – The GMF offers expertise in mouse genetic engineering, along with tools that allow the efficient generation and banking of animal models for stem cell research. Specific services of the facility include: production of transgenic mice by pronuclear microinjection of DNA constructs in plasmids, BACs or YACs; chimera construction by injection of ES cells into blastocysts or aggregations with morulae; cryopreservation and storage of embryos and sperm; mouse strain resuscitation by in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); re-derivation of mouse strains by embryo transfer; gene targeting in embryonic stem (ES) cells; the development of lentiviral vector based transgenes; validation of DNA vectors, ES cells and feeder lines; and consultation on genetic model creation.
Our research is supported by several excellent core facilities around the Cambridge science campus managed by the FAS Science Division.
Departmental Shared Equipment
Most Departmental Shared Equipment have reservation calendars, either Google Calendars or Spinal Calendars. In order to book a time slots for use of a particular instrument or piece of equipment, please contact Joseph Vaughan, Assistant Director of Laboratories for access and calendars.
Department Shared Equipment
Genome Analysis Facility
Genome Analysis Facility – SF 229
HSCRB provides an assortment of instrumentation centralized in the Genome Analysis Facility located in Fairchild 229. This facility includes a number of instruments including a Applied Biosystems Quantstudio 6Flex QPCR, an Illumina MiSeq for quick and efficient sequencing, an Agilent Technologies Seahorse Analyzer XFe96, a Fluidigm BioMark HD Reader for single cell analysis and a BioRad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR. These and other instruments listed above are available for convenient quick analysis.
All of these instruments are available for use by HSCRB researchers. Prior training is required for Calendar Access. Some instruments, specifically those where recharge is required for use, require access to and registration with Spinal for making reservations for use, including most imaging systems including those managed by HCBI and some “In Core” instruments.
Viewable Calendars for Department Shared Equipment are listed below.
Genome Analysis Facility Instrumentation
