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 ([email protected]) 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, [email protected]
Lab Assistants: Please see the table below for instrument caretakers
Seminars
Thursday afternoons
3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Online only
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, ,[email protected]
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 ([email protected]), the Institute Radiation Safety Officer, before getting access to the scintillation counte.
Contact: Kausar Raza [email protected]
Micro-volume full spectrum UV-Visible spectrophotometer for sample volumes as low as 0.5 µL.
Contact: Li-En Lin, [email protected]
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, [email protected]
Floor-mounted temperature-controlled shaker accepts up to 6-L flasks for culture. Can go down to 5°C.
Contact: Dina Malounda, [email protected]
Contact: Bill Ling, [email protected]
Dina Malounda, [email protected]
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: Helena Awad, [email protected]
Efficient electroporation of mammalian cells for transfection.
Contact: James Linton, [email protected]
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 [email protected] and Tom Sidwell [email protected]
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: Raymond J. Zhang, [email protected]
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,[email protected]
Used for basic visualization of cultured cells at 10 and 20X, allowing for monitoring and counting cells.
Contact: Kun Mmiao, [email protected]
Provides sterile environment for sensitive dissections or microscope work.
Contact: Terry Kim, [email protected]
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, [email protected]
Tabletop centrifuge that can accomodate 15 or 50 mL conical tubes.
Contact: Dina Malounda, [email protected]
Contact: Alice Hsu, [email protected]
Dina Malounda, [email protected]
Contact: Alice Hsu, [email protected]
Instrumentation Caretakers
For training or troubleshooting, please contact the appropriate caretakers.
| Equipment | Caretaker | Contact info |
|---|---|---|
| Biosafety cabinet (TC hood) | Alice Hsu | [email protected] |
| Chemical fume hood | Dina Malounda | [email protected] |
| Amaxa 4-D Nucleofector | James Lilton | [email protected] |
| Benchtop centrifuges | Dina Malounda | [email protected] |
| Benchtop water bath | Alice Hsu | [email protected] |
| MilliQ water deionizer | Amylynn Chen | [email protected] |
| Typhoon FLA 9000 gel imager | Helena Awad | [email protected] |
| Inverted fluorescence microscope (Nikon TS100) | Kun Miao | [email protected] |
| Upright dissection microscope (Nikon SMZ1000) + Clean bench | Terry Kim | [email protected] |
| Affinity ITC | Chia-Yu Chien | [email protected] |
| Mammalian cell incubator | Kun Miao | [email protected] |
| Zeta Potential Analyzer | Bill Ling | [email protected] |
| BioRad qPCR (CFX 96 RT PCR) | Boyoung Shin and Tom Sidwell | [email protected], [email protected] |
| 4°C refrigerator | Alice Hsu | [email protected] |
| FlexStation microplate reader | John O. Chapman | [email protected] |
| Beckman Avanti J-26 floor centrifuge | Alex Siegel | [email protected] |
| -80°C freezer | Dina Malounda | [email protected] |
| Nanodrop 2000 | Li-En Lin | [email protected] |
| Li-Cor IR imager | Ruilin Qian | [email protected] |
| Beckman Scintillation Counter | Kausar Raza | [email protected] |
| Shaking incubator for bacteria | Dina Malounda | [email protected] |
| Ultrospec cell density meter | Terry Kim | [email protected] |
| QIAcube | Xun Wang | [email protected] |
| Neon transfection system | Raymond J. Zhang | [email protected] |
| Ice maker | Trixia Buscagan | [email protected] |
Mailing address
Caltech Center for Molecular Medicine
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
MC 164-30
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
USA