Scientific Environment
The scientific environment at Texas A&M University is excellent for the proposed regeneration studies. The research lab is configured for efficiency and is adequate about 10 lab personnel. The Veterinary Research Building has general facilities supported by the department that we routinely use including ice machines, glassware washers, autoclave, liquid nitrogen storage tanks, walk-in cold room, darkrooms, high speed and ultra-centrifuge. Numerous core facilities available on the Texas A&M campus include an imaging facility, sequencing and bioinformatics facility, cell sorting facility, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry facilities. The Texas A&M Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM) is a full service transgenic and knockout facility with state of the art equipment and expertise. All animal work is carried out at TIGM which is located approximately 100 yards from the Veterinary Research Building. The Muneoka lab has a dedicated animal room and two adjoining procedure labs (~400 ft2) where amputation/surgeries are carried out. One of the procedure rooms houses a dedicated microCT (Scanco viva 40) that is used routinely for longitudinal imaging of the regeneration process. MicroCT image data can be accessed from the lab at any time and all data are stored on tape drives.
Laboratory
The research lab (~2000 sq ft) is housed on the third floor of the Veterinary Research Building and consists of two standard labs with a cell culture facility in between, and a separate imaging room across the hall. Each lab has 4 benches and two small offices. One of the small offices is dedicated for histological preparation (embedding and sectioning) where 3 can work at any time. The imaging room houses multiple microscopes and multiple people can work simultaneously. The lab space is configured to minimize traffic between related stations. All lab personnel have desks associated with the lab space.
Animal
Animals are housed at the Texas A&M Institute for Genomic Medicine. TIGM is an ALAAC approved facility. All vertebrate animal studies are approved by the Texas A&M University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee that meets all federal requirements, as defined in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the Public Health Service Policy (PHS), and the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
Computer
The lab has multiple computers associated with lab equipment that is dedicated for the collection and analysis of data. Major equipment includes Microscopes, MicroCT, MicroUltrasound, Faxitron, Laser Microdissection, Flow Cytometer. All members of the Muneoka lab have dedicated computers for general use, and there are common use two computers dedicated for image analyses. All computers are equipped with MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat, Endnote, BoneJ, and Graphpad.
Office
Office space for Dr. Muneoka is provided on the first floor of the Veterinary Research Building. The Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology department office is located on the third floor of the neighboring VEDI building. The department office has a receptionist, facilities coordinator, purchasing officer, communications director, lab manager, shop manager, accountant, and multiple student advisors. The department provides a satellite office in the Veterinary Research Building that supports faculty to minimize travel to the main office.
Major Equipment
The laboratory space that is fully equipped with 8 desk/bench units, a microscopy room, and a cell culture facility. The microscopy room houses a number of microscopes including a virtual imaging system (Olympus VS120), a laser microdissection system (Olympus Cellcut), a deconvolution fluorescence microscope (Olympus BX61TF), and compound light microscope (Olympus). All scopes are equipped with high resolution imaging systems. The cell culture facility tissue houses a 6 foot biosafety cabinet, 2 incubators, inverted microscope with high resolution imaging system (Zeiss), automated cell counter, refrigerator, centrifuge, and a 10 color flow cytometer (Beckman Coulter). Major laboratory equipment includes a bioanalyzer (Agilent), microplate reader (Polarstar Omega), a realtime PCR machine (Eppendorf), 2 PRC machines, automated tissue processor (Leica), paraffin embedding station, glass needle puller, ultralow temperature freezer, multiple refrigerators and freezers, cryostat (Leica), 2 automated paraffin microtome (Leica), autoclave, gel imager, 3 liquid nitrogen storage tanks, and ultra-pure water system. Equipment in the animal procedure rooms at TIGM include a dedicated MicroCT scanner (Scanco VivaCT40), a dedicated micro-ultrasound imaging unit (Visualsonics Vivo770), a Faxitron for DXA analyses, a fluorescence dissection microscope with high resolution imaging system (Zeiss Lumar V12), a rodent hyperbaric chamber (Reimer B-11), 3 mobile isoflurane vaporizers, and multiple dissection microscopes.