Core Services

Cytometry by Time Of Flight, also known as CyTOF or Mass Cytometry, is an assay in which cells in suspension are stained with specific metal-conjugated antibodies which bind to proteins of interest. This allows for single-cell resolution, protein-level data for up to 45 markers simultaneously. Our panel is focused on senescence and includes important makers such as p16, p21, and yH2A-X that can help answer longstanding questions in the field of aging. 

Mouse Core: Directed by Drs. Laura Niedernhofer and Christina Camell, the goal of the iBAM Mouse Core is to provide researchers with mouse models of natural and accelerated aging to examine the roles of  the pillars of aging including DNA damage, senescence, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction in driving aging and age-related diseases as well as testing therapeutics to extend health span. The Core has a large and complex animal colony that functions to provide a unique resource for researchers studying pillars of aging systemically and within individual organs. These mouse models include accelerated aging models, transgenic and naturally aged models. The Mouse Core regularly works with researchers to provide tissue samples, collect in vivo data and perform therapeutic studies. 

Bioinformatics Core, Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism. The Bioinformatics Core aims to accelerate the bioinformatic analyses of large datasets, especially omics datasets, generated in the field of the biology of aging in local and national communities. This is typically through an internally or externally funded collaboration between the Core and a research group. Since its launch in 2021, the Core has successfully supported the application and research in two NIH Center Grants (U54s) and three NIH Program Project Grants (P01s and U19). Directed by Dr. Xiao Dong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, the Core is composed of a team at diverse career levels, including a research assistant professor, a bioinformatics scientist, a postdoctoral researcher, a graduate student, and an undergraduate student, and covers a wide range of expertise in bioinformatics and biostatistics with a focus on single-cell and spatial omics, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Located on the 6th floor of the Molecular and Cellular Biology building, the Core has 24/7 free access to the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI), which has tens of thousands of CPU cores and hundreds of GPUs, allowing it to remain within the top 500 most powerful high-performance computers in the world since 1994.

Worm Core: The goal of the iBAM Worm Core is to facilitate the rapid identification of novel anti-aging genes and compounds using the nematode C. elegans as a model system. Directed by Dr. Matthew Gill, the Core is designed to be an entry point into aging studies for researchers from other disciplines who do not have experience with the nematode model or aging research, but have preliminary data to suggest that their gene, protein or pathway of interest may impact the aging process.  The Core has access to two RNAi libraries and as well as mutant strains from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center to study effects at the gene level. Expertise in CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing facilitates construction of novel genetic backgrounds, including replacement of C. elegans genes with human orthologs to study the effects of rare variants on lifespan and survival. Candidate compounds can be studied at the level of stress resistance as well as standard survival with age. 

Drug Development Core:  Directed by Drs. Paul Robbins and Lei Zhang, the goal of the iBAM Drug Development Core is to provide a resource for drug testing and screening on assays reflecting different pillars of aging. Although the focus of the Core historically has been on identifying novel senotherapeutics, the Core also has developed assays to screen for drugs able to improve aged stem cell function, mitochondrial function and autophagy. Importantly, the Core also has implemented assays to screen for compounds able to increase DNA repair activity. In addition, the Core has developed approaches to identify miRNAs able to regulate pillars of aging as well as use  bioinformatic analysis to identify new targets for drug development.

Senescence Core: With support from the Masonic Cancer Center at UMN, iBAM and the UMN Medical School Dean’s Office, a Senescence Core service, directed by Dr. Laura Niedernhofer, has been added to two existing shared resources within the Masonic Cancer Center: (1) the Comparative Pathology shared resource for analysis of pre-clinical samples and (2) the Translational Therapy shared resource for human clinical samples. The goal of the iBAM Senescence Core is to accelerate discovery of where and when senescent cells contribute to age-related pathology and the testing of senotherapeutic modalities in disease models and patients across a wide spectrum of disciplines by measuring p16INK4a expression in CD3+ cells isolated from PBMCs. The Core is currently supporting translational studies to measure senescence in cancer survivors, HIV patients and in liver transplant recipients.