Core Facilities
SickKids Research Institute Core Facilities & Resources
In order to provide for the wide array of infrastructure requirements of our research community, we are home to a series of specialized scientific core facilities. Each of these facilities provides technical expertise and services as well as access to state-of-the art equipment to our researchers on a cost recovery basis.
For more information on these facilities and the variety of services that are available, click 'Menu of Services':
The Advanced Bioimaging Centre is a joint facility of SickKids and Mount Sinai Hospital. It is located in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and provides electron microscopy services to scientists at both institutions, as well as the University of Toronto and the scientific community at large.
The Advanced Protein Technology Centre (APTC) provides protein analysis services to the Canadian research community. APTC services include amino acid analysis, peptide sequencing, peptide synthesis and mass spectrometry.
The Centre for Computational Biology (CCB) is the computational support and service group for the SickKids Research Institute. From desktop support and application development to computing resources and bioinformatics consulting, the CCB provides a full range of computational support and services, as well as supercomputing services.
The mandate of the Clinical Research Support Unit (CRSU) is to improve the quality of clinical research at SickKids by providing consultation in the areas of study design and methodology, statistical analysis, and data management. Clinical Research Centre
The Clinical Research Centre was established to provide safe and accessible facilities for physiological types of patient-based research. Services provided include a cardiopulmonary research exercise laboratory and a clinical investigation unit that offers general patient assessment, specialized metabolic testing and bioelectrical impedance.
The Flow Cytometry Facility allows for cell analysis using flow cytometry technology. Flow cytometers detect and quantify a number of cellular parameters as cells are carried in a liquid stream through a nozzle that is illuminated by one or more lasers emitting light of defined wavelengths.
The Imaging Facility provides a full range of biological imaging solutions for life sciences research. The facility provides access to cutting edge technologies in biological imaging, which are made available to both academia and industry on a fee for service basis. Monoclonal Antibody Facility
The monoclonal antibody facility provides services for custom hybridoma production and antibody purification to the Canadian research community.
SIDNET is a project that aims to express the human proteome and study human function by high throughput screens, thereby allowing the study of cellular proteins. The SIDNET protein archive enables users to access a vast library of protein clone information, as well as allows researchers to search a protein database.
The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) is comprised of facilities that provide the resources, technologies and expertise essential for disease gene research and other basic and applied genetic and genomic investigations. Along with DNA sequencing and synthesis, TCAG facilities include:
- The genetic analysis facility, which includes genome-wide scans, fine-mapping genotyping, marker development and mutation analysis.
- The genome resource facility provides a gene and physical mapping service.
- The gene isolation and expression facility uses state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate the isolation of candidate genes from defined chromosome regions, to facilitate the isolation of full-length genes through library screening, RT-PCR and RACE, and to determine tissue expression profiles of genes of interest.
- The microarray facility performs both gene expression studies and array-based comparative genomic hybridization.
Transgenic Facility and Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Facility
The Transgenic Facility is a resource centre containing a collection of laboratory equipment required for procedures involved in mouse embryo research. The Mouse Embryonic Stem (ES) Cell Facility is a core facility that provides services for gene-targeting experiments, including growing ES cells and feeder cells, electroporation of targeting vectors, and selection and expansion of targeted ES cell clones.
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