Over the last several months, COR²E has spent considerable time finalizing FY2025 budgets and calculating new rates for service and analysis across our core facilities.  These rates were intended to go into effect at the beginning of FY2025 but were delayed and will now go into effect on January 1, 2025.  COR²E’s budgeting exercises are extensive and allow us to estimate annual costs and adjust our hourly usage rates accordingly.  The last time our rates were adjusted was the beginning of FY2023.  As we are all acutely aware, prices for reagents and service have risen considerably since July 2022.  Although internal usage of COR²E facilities is and will continue to be heavily subsidized by the OVPR, adjusting for rising costs is necessary to help recover annual expenses.

For FY2025, we’ve adjusted our rate calculation to allow our users to “pay their fair share” of the expenses incurred each year.  Traditionally, we’ve estimated the total anticipated usage per instrument or service to calculate usage rates for the following year.  However, for FY2025 we are implementing a change to this calculation and have instead used the reasonable total available usage per instrument or service to calculate new rates.  This allows facility users to pay an amount proportional to their individual and actual usage for equipment and services instead of a greater share for services that were not heavily utilized.  Since the total available usage time is commonly larger than the amount of anticipated usage for each service and/or instrument, user-operated hourly rates have decreased in most cases.  For instruments that were already very heavily used, there will be less of an effect on FY2025 rates.  For instruments that have required substantially increased service- or repair-related costs compared to years prior, FY2025 rates have increased to help recover a portion of these rising costs.

In the past, some training opportunities, assisted experiments, and/or provided services that require direct COR²E personnel support were billed at substantially lower rates than the dedicated personnel time truly cost the University.  In FY2025, COR²E is making a conscious effort to recover a higher amount of direct personnel time spent supporting research.  Across our core facilities, this necessitated an increase in the assisted rate for service or analysis.  Again, facility users will pay their “fair share” of utilized personnel time.  Ultimately, we anticipate that most users of COR²E facilities will not observe a large influence on the total amount spent using our resources due to these changes: the net change in rates is likely to be small since unassisted usage rates have generally decreased and personnel-related usage rates have generally increased.

If you have facility-specific questions regarding the new rate determination process or inquiries about specific rate changes, please contact the appropriate Facility Director.  For additional questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at the below address.

Jeremy L. Balsbaugh, Ph.D. (Jeremy dot Balsbaugh at uconn dot edu)

Director, Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E)

Director, UConn Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (PMF)

UConn Health and COR²E are seeking a non-tenure track Associate Professor/Basic Sciences to serve as Director of a newly established Cryo EM core facility that will be located at the medical research campus in Farmington, CT.

The primary responsibility for this position will be assisting users in planning and executing Cryo EM experiments that utilize a new Tundra Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope. It is expected that this position will include significant effort training users in all stages of analysis: grid preparation and clipping, data acquisition, and data handling. Primary daily responsibilities will include managing facility operations, providing routine microscope maintenance and troubleshooting, overseeing financial responsibilities of the facility, developing successful training modules in Cryo EM instrument operation, serving as a resource for guiding subsequent data processing and high-resolution analyses when needed, and supporting faculty grant applications that incorporate Cryo EM imaging and/or acquisition of new instrumentation.

Questions regarding this search should be addressed to hiring committee co-chairs Dr. Justin Radolf (jradolf@uchc.edu) and Dr. Victoria Robinson (Victoria.robinson@uconn.edu).  To apply, use search #2025-469 or keyword "cryo" at https://jobs.uchc.edu.

We are very excited to announce that the UConn Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (PMF) is growing! In 2025, we are opening a brand new mass spectrometry COR²E laboratory located at UConn Health (Farmington CT) that will further expand our current analytical capabilities. PMF-Farmington will feature the same high quality proteomic analysis you’ve come to expect from PMF-Storrs but with new mass spectrometry instrumentation and expertise accessible directly on-site at the medical campus. As part of the expansion, we are hiring a facility scientist (non-TT) to support daily operations. The successful candidate will have a PhD in a relevant field and at least 3 years of experience with sample preparation and UPLC-MS/MS analysis for a wide variety of proteomic applications. Experience with low input/SCP applications is a plus. We have a great team and are eager to bring a new member of “Team Mass Spec” onboard.  For all information and to apply, see: https://jobs.uchc.edu/CSS_External/CSSPage_JobDetail.ASP?T=20241107205226&

The 2024 iteration of last year's successful Core Incentive Plan (CIP) Program is now accepting proposals to request funds for research projects to be conducted in FY2025.  CIP awards provide seed funding to faculty from UConn Storrs and UConn Health campuses to be allocated for research projects that specifically engage UConn's world-class diverse core facilities housed in the Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E). CIP awards will allow faculty to generate data for extramural funding opportunities, test a new technology that has historically been cost-prohibitive, or explore an entirely new field of research without the full financial burden associated with preliminary experiments. The participating core facilities are featured on both the Storrs and Farmington campuses.

Learn more: https://core.uconn.edu/cip/

Our expertise and capabilities continue to expand!  The Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E) is excited to announce that a new facility has joined the Center. As of July 1, 2024, the Brain Imaging Research Core Facility, formerly known as the neuroimaging component of the Brain Imaging Research Center (College of Liberal Arts & Sciences), officially became part of COR²E and the Office of the Vice President for Research.  Incorporation of this facility brings highly trained scientists and advanced technological capabilities centered around a 3T Siemens Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner used for human-focused research and clinical applications.  The Brain Imaging Research Core Facility is managed by Director Nabin Koirala, Ph.D., and Technical Operations Manager Elisa Medeiros RT(R)(CT)(MR),MRSO.  A newly designed website that includes all of their services and instrumentation is forthcoming.  Welcome Nabin and Elisa!

The Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E) at the University of Connecticut seeks a full-time Facility Scientist (Academic Assistant 1) to support imaging research at the university. The individual will work in the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility (ALMF) – a vibrant and growing core facility housing six instruments including confocal, lightsheet, TIRF, and super resolution microscopes (confocal.uconn.edu). Within the ALMF, the Facility Scientist will be responsible for day-to-day microscope maintenance, training facility users on the instruments, and providing ongoing support to researchers in their experimental design, data acquisition, and image analysis. The Facility Scientist will work closely with the Facility Director to support a wide range of microscopy research applications and will be expected to develop a high level of mastery of the instrumentation hardware and software. The successful candidate will be detail oriented and can clearly communicate technical information verbally and in written form.

For more information, see the complete job description and apply HERE.

The following message was distributed to the University on March 6, 2024 from the Office of the Vice President for Research:

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is delighted to announce that Dr. Jeremy Balsbaugh has been appointed as the Director of the Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E). He will retain his position as the Director of the Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (PMF). He was formerly Associate Director of COR²E under previous Director Dr. Dan Schwartz.

Dr. Balsbaugh’s graduate and post-doctoral training in mass spectrometry (MS) with world leaders in proteomics provided the foundation needed to establish the first proteomics and metabolomics-focused core facility at UConn in 2017. Under his leadership, PMF grew from a facility with no userbase and only a single refurbished mass spectrometer into a thriving analytical laboratory featuring five advanced, high-resolution mass spectrometers. The PMF directly supports the research of over 130 faculty members at UConn and UConn Health, plus an additional 40 faculty members at external research institutions.

Since 2017, Dr. Balsbaugh and PMF have directly supported more than 225 grant and fellowship submissions resulting in tens of millions of dollars in acquired research funds. Sustained facility growth in PMF over the last six years resulted in the addition of two talented full-time scientists to support PMF operations. Dr. Jen Liddle was hired in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Dr. Sonam Tamrakar was hired from Michigan State University in January 2024.

In 2022, Dr. Balsbaugh’s role expanded to include the Associate Director of COR²E, where he spearheaded several initiatives including the 2023 Core Incentive Plan Program to provide faculty with OVPR funding to utilize core facility technologies for the first time. Dr. Balsbaugh maintains membership and participates in MS and core facility-centric national organizations and events to remain at the forefront of new analytical technologies and management strategies for core facilities. His deep knowledge of developing and supporting core facilities is invaluable as UConn's research enterprise continues to focus on growth.

We look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Balsbaugh and grow the Center. Please join UConn Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Pamir Alpay and OVPR Executive Director for Operations Julie Schwager in congratulating Dr. Balsbaugh on this extremely well-deserved new position!

COR²E is currently searching for a full-time Coordinator to lead our Biosupply facility.  This resource provides biological research supplies and full-service stockroom services with the goal of simplifying research supply ordering and receiving for COR²E facilities plus over 100 laboratories across multiple departments at the University.  All details about the expected duties and applicant qualifications can be found here: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/en-us/job/498038/cor2e-biosupply-coordinator

COR²E is searching for a new Director of the jointly managed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility.  The application site for interested scientists is located at: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/en-us/job/498031/nmr-core-facility-director-academic-assistant-3 

The successful applicant will have demonstrated experience implementing multi-dimensional NMR for small and large biomolecules.  The full job description and necessary qualifications can be found here: 20231121_COR2EandChemistryNMRDirector

Xiaoyang Liu, a longtime supporter of the UConn research community and the latest Director of COR²E’s Biosupply facility, has retired after 34 years of service to the University.  Until his replacement is hired, the following temporary changes to Biosupply Facility operations will occur:

• Biosupply will cease all custom ordering services until a full-time replacement is hired.  During this time, Biosupply will continue to offer regular stockroom inventory items for sale.  All Bio-Rad kiosk items will be available for independent user purchases.  Promega kiosk items will be available for walk-in purchase.  Lab coat cleaning services will continue to operate normally.
• Daily Biosupply services will be available from 9am to 3.30pm due to limited availability of Biosupply student support and COR²E staff.
• Biosupply closures will be posted on the door to TLS 175 in advance and included in the email signature for the biosupply@uconn.edu email notifications that announce received packages.  Anticipated extended closures during selected holiday periods will be posted as early as possible to allow researchers ample time to plan reagent purchases and shipments appropriately.
• Package receiving and pick-up processes will continue normally, though retrievals by notified persons needs to be completed before 3.30pm, unless a mutually agreed up alternate pick-up plan is confirmed with Biosupply staff using after-hours TLS 175 room access.

Please send all questions regarding new operating policies or purchasing options to biosupply@uconn.edu.

COR²E is holding an informational Open House & Vendor Show on Monday, October 2, 2023 from 11am to 1pm.  Stop by the Student Union Grand Ballroom for a free lunch and learn all about what is happening in COR²E!  All event details and registration can be found at the Open House & Vendor Show event page.

UConn PMF has an immediate opening for a full-time scientist with demonstrated experience in small molecule analysis using quantitative mass spectrometry.  Check out the full job listing below and apply soon.  Applications will be accepted through August 18, 2023.

To apply: https://jobs.hr.uconn.edu/en-us/job/497693/research-assistant-3

UConn OVPR announces a new Core Incentive Plan (CIP) internal funding initiative in FY2024 to award seed funding to faculty from UConn Storrs and UConn Health campuses to be allocated for research projects that specifically engage UConn's world-class diverse core facilities. CIP awards will allow faculty to generate data for extramural funding opportunities, test a new technology that has historically been cost-prohibitive, or explore an entirely new field of research without the full financial burden associated with preliminary experiments. The participating core facilities are featured on both the Storrs and Farmington campuses.

Learn more: https://core.uconn.edu/cip/

COR²E has many updates to share since our last newsletter was released roughly 2 years ago!  Check out the newest edition for Summer 2023 and learn more about what our core facilities have been up to, get introductions to the newest members of the COR²E team, and see what new instruments we've acquired recently.

Attachment: COR²E Summer 2023 Newsletter

Don't think a year of madness has stopped our facilties! COR²E has continued to support UConn, create world-class research, and build community connections during the pandemic; check out this newsletter for the inside scoop.

Attachment: Spring 2021 Newsletter

In conjunction with the ramped reopening of UConn research, our COR²E managed facilities have officially reopened.  Due to unique operational differences between facilities, however, the degree of service provided will differ from one facility to another.  In an effort to maintain the safety of our users and staff (particularly because our facilities are utilized by hundreds of students and faculty across UConn), it is imperative that users adhere to safety policies outlined by the institution/state (logging presence, PPE, maintaining distance, etc.) as well as those procedures that have been created by the specific facility.

If your lab has received approval from the OVPR to resume research activity, and you wish to utilize one of the COR²E managed facilities, please reach out to the respective facility director who can provide guidance on policies/procedures and scheduling (contact information can be found in the resources section of this website).

There will undoubtedly be challenges associated with reopening the facilities, and it is conceivable that they will not be back to providing 100% of their former services for some time.  That said, the facilities are committed to supporting the UConn research community in its important work, and are striving to accommodate the varying research needs of our faculty.  Please try to bear with them.

Finally, as always, if there are ever any non facility-specific questions that arise, please do not hesitate to reach out to Dan Schwartz (daniel.schwartz@uconn.edu).

We look forward to working with everyone again.

As a result of the Governor's Executive Order and the latest directive at the University to ramp down all non-critical research, and for the safety of our users and staff, the following COR²E managed facilities will be closed for operation starting on Monday (3/23/20): Advanced Light Microscopy, BioSupply, Biophysics, Electrical/Electronics: Technology & Repair, Flow Cytometry, Mechanical/Glass: Design & Fabrication, Microbial Analysis, Resources, and Services, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and Proteomics & Metabolomics.  Our Statistical Consulting Service will remain open as all consultations are being carried out remotely.  Doors to these facilities will remain locked until further institutional guidance is provided.

Those performing critical (i.e., COVID-19 related) research that wish to utilize the COR²E managed facilities should contact the respective facility director to make special arrangements.

As our BioSupply facility will be closed starting on Monday (3/23/20), all orders to the TLS, PBB, and BPB buildings that were previously delivered through the BioSupply facility will be diverted to the Central Warehouse for delivery; however researchers should take care not to order non-critical reagents at this time (in part because refrigeration and freezer capabilities in the Central Warehouse are limited).

It is important to note that our facility directors are still working remotely - this is an opportune time to schedule a teleconference to plan out future experiments or analyze existing data.

If there are any facility-specific questions please reach out to the appropriate facility director, and for all other questions please feel free to reach out to Dan Schwartz.

Stay healthy and safe everyone.

Link: https://jobs.uconn.edu/en-us/job/494369/facilities-scientist-2

Our intention is to keep core research facilities managed by COR²E operational at this time.  That said, many of our facilities have very limited staffing (some of which include student employees) and as such, may necessitate a reduction in services or even closure.  Additionally, many of our core facilities rely on equipment and services from external vendors who may also experience delays that could translate to our internal services.  Facilities may also choose to limit/stagger usage of equipment to reduce contact between facility users.  Users of the facilities are encouraged to plan their experiments accordingly and visit their respective core facility homepages and/or contact facility directors for the most current information (though changes to services and schedules will also be communicated to existing facility users via email).  Finally, as shared communal facilities, we will be working to keep shared equipment spaces as disinfected as possible, but we also ask for users’ help in doing so (washing hands before using shared equipment, staying home at any sign of illness, etc.)  If additional updates are needed, they will be posted here.  Stay healthy everyone!

Attachment: 2018 COR²E Symposium Flyer/Schedule

Attachment: COR²E Newsletter Fall 2018

Link: https://core.uconn.edu/resources/mechanical

The COR²E Flow Cytometry Facility has finalized the installation and validation of a new Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) enclosure for the FACSAria II cell sorter.  The enclosure, which is located at the rear of room G05 in Bio/Physics, allows researchers on the Storrs campus to sort human samples or those with viral vectors (finally!). Those interested in utilizing its capabilities for their research should contact Flow Cytometry Facility director Dr. Wu He (wu.he@uconn.edu).

Link: https://www.cell.com/cms/attachment/2119344097/2092494766/cover.tif.jpg

Link: https://today.uconn.edu/2018/05/growing-projects-aquaponics/

Moving forward the drop-off location for all scientific glassware repairs will be on the large metal shelf across from the machine shop (room A007) in the Chemistry building.  Place your clean, broken glassware into a sturdy cardboard box along with a sheet containing the PI name, contact name, phone number, email, and any specific instructions for our glassblower Daryl Smith (daryl.smith@yale.edu). Please use bubble wrap or paper to make sure the boxes can be transported by car without further damage to your glassware.

The boxes will be picked up at regular intervals (~1 pickup per week, more if needed) and repaired glassware will be placed back on the shelf when completed. Users will be notified when the glassware was repaired and/or is back. The machine shop engineer from Chemistry, Dan Daleb (daniel.daleb@uconn.edu), has kindly agreed to keep an eye on the shelf. If you have especially valuable items to send to Daryl, talk to Dan and he will safeguard it for you.

Users may also drop off their glassware at the Mechanical or Electrical COR²E facilities in Thomson Hall on the depot campus (at 30 Ahern Lane).

Finally, please contact Daryl directly to discuss any special projects. Daryl is available to meet either in the Chemistry building or on the depot campus.

The COR²E Advanced Light Microscopy Facility recently acquired a new scientific CMOS camera that is extremely sensitive and fast.

Here's what Facility Director Dr. Chris O'Connell wrote about it:

The Photometrics Prime 95B camera has a quantum efficiency (QE) of 95% and can acquire images at hundreds of frames per second.  We have already done some experiments at >700 fps. The camera is mounted on the Andor system and can be used for imaging with transmitted light (brightfield, DIC, phase contrast), TIRF, and widefield fluorescence.  This system also has incubation for imaging live specimens.  If you have research that can benefit from very high temporal resolution, let me know and we can discuss the details.  Full system specs are here:  https://confocal.uconn.edu/andor/.

Link: https://core.uconn.edu

The new Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (http://proteomics.uconn.edu) led by Facility Director Dr. Jeremy Balsbaugh has been fully operational for roughly 2 months now, and has been working with a significant number of faculty across the Storrs and UCH campuses.  Dr. Balsbaugh will be providing a seminar to outline the services and capabilities of the new facility.

Here are the details:

Title: Biological Mass Spectrometry at UConn: An Introduction to the New COR²E Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility
Date/time: Thursday, November 9th at 3:30pm
Location: Pharmacy/Biology Building Room 131 (Storrs campus)
Refreshments: Yes!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Link: https://granttrails.uconn.edu/CT

Link: https://squaredlabs.uconn.edu

Link: http://confocal.uconn.edu

Link: http://mars.uconn.edu

Link: http://proteomics.uconn.edu

Look above, you'll see 2 new buttons - "commercialize your research" and "apply for travel funds". Click on them and see what happens...

Link: http://core.uconn.edu/resources/flowcytometry

Link: https://travelfunds.core.uconn.edu

Link: http://tip.uconn.edu

Link: http://core.uconn.edu/resources/biophysics

Link: http://core.uconn.edu/resources/mechanical

Link: http://core.uconn.edu/resources/MARS

Link: http://cgi.uconn.edu/sanger-sequencing-and-fragment-analysis-service/

Link: http://core.uconn.edu/resources/biosupply

As of the new year, the Animal Cell Culture Facility is officially closed. Former users who have not yet picked up their frozen cells (or wish to continue storing their cells) may do so by contacting Dr. Steve Geary (steven.geary@uconn.edu), Head of the Pathobiology and Veterinary Science Department, who is administering the liquid nitrogen dewars formerly held in the ACC Facility. Users who are interested in purchasing cell culture media formerly offered by the facility should contact Xiaoyang Liu (xiaoyang.liu@uconn.edu) of the BioSupply Facility who is presently working with vendors for a discounted cell culture media solution.

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Jeremy Balsbaugh, presently the Director of the Mass Spectrometry Core at University of Colorado-Boulder, has formally accepted the offer to become the Director of the (soon to be formally established) Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility at UConn. Dr. Balsbaugh will be arriving on campus in early March and will start the process of establishing the facility and its services. The Proteomics & Metabolomics facility will be based out of the main CORE space in Bio/Physics G05 on the Storrs campus, but will serve users across all UConn campuses.