Labs & Facilities

Flow Cytometry Core
An important key to understanding the biological function of the immune responses is the accurate determination of immune cells and their subsets in response to normal physiological stimuli, pathogens and disease. The Core has two, state-of-the-art instruments capable of multi-wavelength (“color”) fluorescence-activated flow cytometry.

Imaging Core
The use of confocal microscopy in biomedical research has greatly expanded since its introduction. This methodology offers high sensitivity and the ability to correlate spatial and temporal distribution of cellular components (organelles, proteins, nucleic acids and other molecules) in response to different physiological triggers, including but not limited to: viral and bacterial pathogens and endogenous signaling molecules. As such, this methodology has become an indispensible tool for cutting edge research and has fostered experimental approaches that were previously unimaginable.

Mass Spectrometry Core
Identification of peptides and proteins at amino acid sequence level, their static and dynamic post-translational modifications (PTMs), as well as quantification are essential for understanding molecular mechanisms in biology and medicine. The mass spectrometry-based proteomcis core facility (https://keck.usc.edu/Research/Centers_and_Programs/Proteomics_Core_Facility.aspx) offers services for quantitative and qualitative protein and peptide sequencing, PTMs determination and analysis for a signal protein or an entire proteome from complex mixtures.

Metabolomics Core
Cellular metabolism is a series of chemical reactions occurred inside the living organisms, which is vital for their lives. The LC-MS metabolomics instrument facilitates the comparison of thousands of metabolites simultaneously and monitors small and large-scale changes in metabolite pools, generating metabolic maps. Ultimately, methods to integrate metabolomics data with other “OMICS” experimental approaches such as transcriptomics or proteomics represent a powerful tool to probe the multiplex metabolic networks.

Biosafety Lab 3
The Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) lab allows researchers to study bacteria and viruses that threaten humans with serious airborne diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), SARS and pandemic influenza.