Center for Molecular Medicine
Dedicated to understanding the intricacies of cellular signaling, the Center for Molecular Medicine was built on Caltech's successes at the interface of chemistry and biology. It is focused on determining how complex systems of molecules interact to create the pathways that regulate the lives of cells and allow them to respond to their environments. Rather than just studying a complex biomolecule in isolation, an understanding of how it is part of a larger path of molecules is the purpose of its establishment. The Center was made possible by a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
If use of the Center instrumentation has contributed significantly to your research, we request that you cite the Center in the acknowledgments section of your publication. For example: "This work was supported by…, and by the Center for Molecular Medicine at California Institute of Technology."
Access to CM2 Instruments
- Please contact the appropriate caretakers for each instrument you would like to use for the instrument training.
- Upon completion of training, contact Dina Malounda (malounda@caltech.edu) to get access.
People in the Facility
Faculty members: Dr. Dennis Dougherty, Dr. Jacqueline Barton, Dr. Peter Dervan, Dr. Linda Hsieh-Wilson, Dr. Shu-ou Shan, Dr. Alison Ondrus, Dr. Mikhail Shapiro
Safety Officer: Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Lab Assistants: Please see the table below for instrument caretakers
Seminars
Thursday afternoons
151 Crellin
12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Instrumentation
Crellin Room 262 (Bacterial)
Microplate reader with 5 read modes (including absorbance, fluorescence intensity, fluorescence polarization, luminescence, and time-resolved fluorescence) with additional robot functionality (8-channel pipettor) to add liquid reagents.
Contact: John O. Chapman, ,jochapman@caltech.edu
The scintillation counter is designed to provide highly accurate, automated counting of the level of radioactivity in radioactivity-tagged samples. Instrument used to count radioactive samples. Note: New users must complete Radioactivity Safety Training with Haick Issaian (haick.issian@caltech.edu), the Institute Radiation Safety Officer, before getting access to the scintillation counte.
Contact: Kausar Raza kausar@caltech.edu
Micro-volume full spectrum UV-Visible spectrophotometer for sample volumes as low as 0.5 µL.
Contact: Xun Wang, xwang2@caltech.edu
Fully automated sample preparation of Qiagen spin-column kits (up to 12 samples per run) for purification of DNA, RNA or proteins.
Contact: Xun Wang, xwang2@caltech.edu
Floor-mounted shaker accepts up to 6-L flasks for culture.
Contact: Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Floor-mounted temperature-controlled shaker accepts up to 6-L flasks for culture. Can go down to 5°C.
Contact: Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Intended for use as a back-up of individual lab freezers.
Contact: Brendan O'Boyle, bmoboyle@caltech.edu
Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Crellin Room 260 (Mammalian)
High-resolution biomolecular imager capable of detecting storage phosphor, chemiluminescence, and multiplex fluorescence with 473 nm, 532 nm, and 625 nm excitation. Analysis done with ImageQuant software.
Contact: Siobhan MacArdle, smacardl@caltech.edu
Efficient electroporation of mammalian cells for transfection.
Contact: James Linton, jlinton@caltech.edu
Built upon the Bio-Rad C1000 96 well Thermal Cycler, utilizes filtered LEDs for excitation and is capable of monitoring 450-750 nM excitation/emission wavelength range. This system allows for simultaneous detection of up to 5 different fluorophores per reaction and is sensitive enough to detect one copy of target sequence in human genomic DNA.
Contact: Boyoung Shin boyoung@caltech.edu and Tom Sidwell tsidwell@caltech.edu
High efficiency electroporation transfection device for primary cells, stem cells, and difficult-to-transfect cells. It is capable of transfecting 10 or 100 µL volumes.
Contact: Tri Vu, tvu@caltech.edu
Used for dissections and imaging (transmitted light) with the camera attached. Zoom from 0.8 to 8X, in a clean bench to provide a sterile dissection/preparation work space.
Contact: Terry Kim,tdkim@caltech.edu
Used for basic visualization of cultured cells at 10 and 20X, allowing for monitoring and counting cells.
Contact: Kun Mmiao, kmiao@caltech.edu
Provides sterile environment for sensitive dissections or microscope work.
Contact: Terry Kim, tdkim@caltech.edu
Provides a controlled CO2 and temperature environment for cells during dissection, transfection or passaging done at the Center. It is intended for temporary use, and not long term housing of cultured cells.
Contact: Kun Miao, kmiao@caltech.edu
Tabletop centrifuge that can accomodate 15 or 50 mL conical tubes.
Contact: Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Contact: Alice Hsu, ahhsu@caltech.edu
Dina Malounda, malounda@caltech.edu
Contact: Alice Hsu, ahhsu@caltech.edu
Instrumentation Caretakers
For training or troubleshooting, please contact the appropriate caretakers.
| Equipment | Caretaker | Contact info |
|---|---|---|
| Biosafety cabinet (TC hood) | Alice Hsu | ahhsu@caltech.edu |
| Chemical fume hood | Dina Malounda | malounda@caltech.edu |
| Amaxa 4-D Nucleofector | James Lilton | jlinton@caltech.edu |
| Benchtop centrifuges | Dina Malounda | malounda@caltech.edu |
| Benchtop water bath | Alice Hsu | ahhsu@caltech.edu |
| MilliQ water deionizer | Amylynn Chen | ach3n@caltech.edu |
| Typhoon FLA 9000 gel imager | Siobhan MacArdle | smacardl@caltech.edu |
| Inverted fluorescence microscope (Nikon TS100) | Kun Miao | kmiao@caltech.edu |
| Upright dissection microscope (Nikon SMZ1000) + Clean bench | Terry Kim | tdkim@caltech.edu |
| Affinity ITC | Stefan Petrovic | spetrovi@caltech.edu |
| Mammalian cell incubator | Kun Miao | kmiao@caltech.edu |
| BioRad qPCR (CFX 96 RT PCR) | Boyoung Shin and Tom Sidwell | boyoung@caltech.edu, tsidwell@caltech.edu |
| 4°C refrigerator | Alice Hsu | ahhsu@caltech.edu |
| FlexStation microplate reader | John O. Chapman | jochapman@caltech.edu |
| Beckman Avanti J-26 floor centrifuge | Alex Siegel | asiegel@caltech.edu |
| -80°C freezer | Brendan O'Boyle | bmoboyle@caltech.edu |
| Nanodrop 2000 | Xun Wang | xwang2@caltech.edu |
| Li-Cor IR imager | Chien-I Yang | cyang3@caltech.edu |
| Beckman Scintillation Counter | Kausar Raza | kausar@caltech.edu |
| Shaking incubator for bacteria | Dina Malounda | malounda@caltech.edu |
| Ultrospec cell density meter | Terry Kim | tdkim@caltech.edu |
| QIAcube | Xun Wang | Xwang2@caltech.edu |
| Neon transfection system | Tri Vu | tvu@caltech.edu |
| Ice maker | Trixia Buscagan | tbuscaga@caltech.edu |
Mailing address
Caltech Center for Molecular Medicine
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
MC 164-30
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
USA