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The Exercise Physiology Research Laboratory within the Department of Kinesiology occupies approximately 2500 ft2 of dedicated space which are fully available for basic and applied research. Specifically, this space supports a clinical exercise physiology area that contains multiple treadmills - metabolic measurement systems, EKG assessment, and body composition assessment through the use of a Bod Pod. Additionally, this laboratory houses a biochemistry research area equipped with the following major equipment: muscle homogenizer, Eppendorf Mastercycler Gradient Thermal Cycler, a Cryostat-microtome, Cryo-Pro cryogenic storage system, the NanoDrop™ Spectrophometer, a microplate reader, 3 4°C/ -20°C refrigerator/freezer and 3 x - 86°C sub freezers, Allegra X-22R refrigerated centrifuge, Mini-Protean II kit and power supply (for western blots), and IX71 inverted fluorescent microscope (Olympus). The Exercise Physiology laboratory also contains a Cell Culture research room that contains the following equipment: 4 ft Biological Safety Cabinet (Class II laminar flow), automatic water-jacket CO2 incubator, portable cell culture Aspirator, and inverted microscope. The animal laboratory contains an Aurora Scientific 1305A Muscle Test System (for in situ muscle lengthening contractions), a VistaVision Microscope with gooseneck and 150W fiber optic light source and a treadmill / metabolic gas analyzer designed for use on small rodents, a metabolic treadmill for mice with the Oxymax system (used in measuring V02/VCO2), and a Philips Ultrasound Machine.
Microarray Facility:
The DNA Microarray Facility of the Charlotte Genomics Consortium consists of an Affymetrix GeneChip Instrument System which includes a Model 640 GeneChip Hybridization Oven, a'Model 400 GeneChip Fluidics Station and a Model 3000 GeneArray Large-Format Scanner. These are controlled by a Dell OptiPlex GX1 10 computer running Affymetrix Microarray Suite 5.0 software. The two Total Desktop Mining Solution workstations consist of a Dell OptiPlex GX110 computer running Affymetrix Microarray Suite 5.0, MicroDB 3.0, and Data Mining Tool 3.0 software. One workstation is located in the Cannon Research Center of the Carolinas Medical Center. The other is located in the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and is freely accessible to the Investigators.
Animal Facility:
The UNC Charlotte Vivarium meets or exceeds all PHS regulations. The facility employs three full-time technicians and four part-time technicians that oversee the facility seven days a week. The facility has 24 hour temperature monitoring and alarms to ensure a constant ambient temperature of 65-75°F and 20-60% humidity (depending on season). The rooms used to house mice are of differing sizes depending upon the needs of the Principal Investigator. Additionally, procedure rooms are available for use by the research teams for dissections, recovery surgery, and exercise testing of the animals. The University Vivarium is under the direction of a professional laboratory animal technician who is holds AALAS certification. Additional support is provided by a veterinarian who is on call 24hrs/day 7 days/wk.
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