Vector Development and Production Core
Director: Miguel Sena-Esteves
Location: Building 149 13th Street, Room 6309, Charlestown
| Core Summary: |
The Vector Development and Production Core provides viral vectors with custom-designed promoters and reporter genes and capacity for gene regulation.
| Personnel/Contact Information: |
Director: Miguel Sena-Esteves, Ph.D.
Phone: (617) 724-8917
Fax: (617) 724-1537
Email: msesteves@partners.org
Other Staff:
Research Technician: Laryssa Comer
Phone: (617) 724-6863
Email: lacomer@partners.org
| Facilities: |
Location of the Core:
The facility is located at Building 149 13th Street, Room 6309, Charlestown.
| Services: |
This Core will advise investigators on HSV amplicon
and/or retrovirus vectors most
appropriate for their research needs based on relative infectivity of cells
of interest, use for culture or in vivo studies, promoter considerations, hypotheses
being addressed, and appropriate reporter genes. The Core will provide appropriate
amplicon or retrovirus plasmid backbones and construction information and assistance
to investigators, as well as packaging vectors for them.
Investigators using the basic amplicon backbone will
be supplied with amplicon plasmids that contain one of the following
reporter genes under an immediate early (IE) HSV promoter:
enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), red fluorescent protein (dsRFP),
luciferase,
alkaline phosphatase or lacZ and a multiple cloning site (MCS) downstream of
a cytomegalovirus
(CMV) IE promoter. Other vector backbones are available for longer-term reporter
gene
expression, through a CMV IE promoter, in which case the transgene is under
the Rous sarcoma
virus (RSV) or mammalian promoters.
Investigators will be responsible for inserting their
genes of interest into the MCS, validating
correct construction by restriction analysis, testing bioactivity by transfection
assays (when
possible), and supplying clean maxi-prepped DNA for packaging.
The Core will maintain high quality stocks of HSV BAC
DNA for packaging and will carry out
packaging and “purification”, titering and allocation of amplicon
vectors for the investigators.
| Getting Started: |
To access the core, please contact Miguel
Sena-Esteves at (617) 724-8917 or by email at
msesteves@partners.org.
| Departmental Web Link: |
http://www.massgeneral.org/ncs/neuro_core_VectorDevelopmentandProduction.htm
