USF Center for Biodefense

USF Center for Biodefense

The NFGC founding proposal states we will establish collaborations with other centers, and support the vision of Congress and the Department of Defense to work together towards the effective treatment and prevention of cancer, producing benefits directly applicable to the military and homeland security. The NFGC has established a collaborative effort with the ongoing research at the Center for Biological Defense, and are working closely with them to support their genomics research needs. The NFGC is providing funds to support this effort. These funds will support access to the NFGC’s microarray and proteomics core facilities.

The funds are being used in two projects:

1. The identification of unique strain specific targets for food pathogen and BT agent detection. We will utilize the proteomics core to compare total protein expression between pairs of difficult to differentiate bacterial strains. Sequence analysis of unilaterally expressed proteins will lead to identification of target genes for use in multiplex RT-PCR and gene microarray differentiation of the organisms of interest.
2. The development of gene microarray chips for the simultaneous detection of multiple organisms, strains, and virulence factors. Using established and novel gene targets we will have two custom microarray chips constructed, one for the detection of food pathogens and another for the detection of Bacillus sub-species. The prototype chips will be evaluated and validated on the Perkin-Elmer microarray scanner in the molecular imaging core.