Special Facilities and Resources

Within the College of Medicine there are extensive, well equipped laboratories to conduct research on many different aspects of human diseases. These range from basic scientific through translational to applied clinical research.

On the OSU campus are several special laboratory facilities available to graduate faculty and students: Central Campus Chemical Instrumentation Center, Campus Microscopy and Imaging Center, The Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, the Neurobiotechnology Center, the Biostatistics Program, the Ohio Supercomputer Center and the Peptide and the Protein Engineering laboratory. There is also a human 8T magnetic resonance system.

The Neurobiotechnology Center has state-of-the-art research facilities including several special resources including confocal, atomic force and fluorescent microscopes, transgenic animal and ES cell facilities, DNA sequencing, and real time PCR.

The Peptide and the Protein Engineering laboratory is located within the College of Medicine. It is a special facility for peptide synthesis, and studies involving prediction of antigenic sites. It also has a Biacore Biosensor plasman resonance instrument for studying protein-protein interactions.

The Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute is the only freestanding cancer hospital in the Midwest. Today, it is one of just 40 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation. As well as being a fully operational 160 bed hospital with 6 specialized surgical suites, bone marrow transplantation unit and extensive outpatient facilities, it also has 26 basic research laboratories and support facilities.

The Human Cancer Genetics Program began in 1997, with the vision to place our College of Medicine at the international forefront in this discipline. Headed by Dr. Carlo Croce, the overall mission of the Program is the rapid identification, analysis and characterization of genetic alterations associated with cancer susceptibility and development. There are 13 full time faculty representing the Division of Human Cancer Genetics, several of whom are core faculty on this training program.

The Center for Microbial Interface Biology (CMIB) is an interdisciplinary program in the COM focused on research in Infectious Diseases, Pathogenesis, and Bioterrorism. The Centers goal is to conduct broad biological sciences research related to the complex study of microbe-host interactions. CMIB participant investigators (currently approximately 20 participants) are from across the OSU campus representing the fields of immunology, cell biology, pathology, biochemistry and pharmacology, microbiology, molecular biology, structural biology, and bioinformatics. A major focus of the Center is on respiratory infectious diseases, intracellular parasitism, and granulomatous inflammation. The Center is currently based on the second floor of the Tzagournis Medical Research facility with laboratory and office space for investigators and trainees (currently 4 faculty and 35 personnel). The CMIB will expand into the new Biomedical Research Tower (BRT) in 2006. The CMIB is continuing to recruit faculty and the program is growing. Resources include biocontainment level 3 facilities for certain infectious agents.

Columbus Children’s Research Institute is housed in the Wexner Institute for Pediatric Research situated on the Children's Hospital campus. It has extensive laboratory and technological support services for basic and applied scientific investigation into pediatric illnesses and diseases. Special facilities include two Biosafety level 3 laboratories, an accredited vivarium with transgenic barrier facility occupies the lower level. There are sixty individual research laboratories containing advanced scientific instruments and technology, conference and library facilities, a DNA sequencing lab, a viral vector lab, a morphology lab which provides histology services, flow cytometry, electron and confocal microscopy services, and a transgenic/embryonic stem cell facility.

The Ohio State University College of Medicine (COM): The OSU College of Medicine (COM) consists of 19 departments and is a major component of The Ohio State University Health Sciences Center. The Ohio State Medical Center is one of the largest medical teaching complexes in Ohio. An expanding research effort has markedly increased the number of full-time faculty in basic science and clinical departments. This has produced an excellent teaching and research environment which fosters interactions amongst the students and faculty to support increased biomedical research in a wide range of programs.

Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute was created to foster an integrated program encompassing fundamental research, education, and far-reaching preventive efforts. This further demonstrates the university’s commitment to interdisciplinary biomedical research programs in the health sciences.

The Institute of Behavioral Medicine Research (IBMR): The establishment of the institute in 1996 was the culmination of collaborative multidisciplinary research in psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) that started as far back as 1984.  The purpose of the IBMR is to stimulate and expand multidisciplinary collaborations through research involving social and behavioral influences on the immune system and health in both human and animal models.  The general theme for the IBMR is interaction among the central nervous system, endocrine system and immune system, and how behavior influences these interactions.  The areas of expertise within the PNI program include immunology, virology, molecular biology, neuroscience, cell biology, endocrinology, psychiatry, psychology, and oncology. There are currently 12 members in the institute, and most of them are graduate faculty on the IBGP.  These faculty have a decade-long history of collaborative interactions leading to joint publications. These interactions have also led to joint extramural funding that currently includes a program project, a center grant, and a postdoctoral training grant.  In 1999 the IBMR received one of only five NIH-funded (NIDCR) mind/body medicine centers to establish the Center for Stress and Wound Healing. Graduate and postdoctoral training has been and remains a major components of the IBMR.  In the past decade, 6 Ph.D. students and 15 postdoctoral fellows have completed their training in the PNI program.  Currently, 10 graduate students and 5 postdoctoral fellows are in training.

Mathematical Bioscience Institute The explosion of research in the life sciences has created the need for new mathematical theories, statistical methods and computational algorithms with which to draw knowledge from the rapidly accumulating data. The Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI) (http://mbi.osu.edu/) catalyzes interactions between the biological, medical and mathematical sciences through vigorous programs of research and education, and nurtures a nationwide community of scholars in this emerging new field. The MBI offers annual emphasis year programs in neurosciences, cellular processes, and genomics and proteomics.  There are current topics workshops, educational programs, and sponsored research projects all in areas of bioscience where participation of the mathematical sciences is expected to lead to important progress. Three core faculty members (Rotter, Saltz and Sadee) were heavily involved in a recent workshop. Postdoctoral fellows, long and short term visitors and workshop participants are invited to take part in the MBI's unique interdisciplinary programs to help meet the challenges and opportunities facing mathematical bioscience researchers today. This will provide our students an outstanding opportunity to meet with top international researchers and other trainees in quantitative biology. The MBI receives major funding from the National Science Foundation Division of Mathematical Sciences ($2M per year) and is supported by The Ohio State University ($1M per year). Of the 22 mentors in the biosciences for this program, 10 are core faculty on this training program, and 18 are IBGP faculty. This demonstrates the strong orientation of our faculty towards quantitative aspects of biological research.