Facilities

Office Space

Dr. Kuppusamy has an office suite in Rooms 114 and 114A of the Tzagournis Medical Research Facility (TMRF). His research team resides in both TMRF and Biomedical Research Tower (BRT).

EPR Spectrometers & Imagers (Rooms 130, 134, and 144 TMRF; 0020 BRT)

The Biomedical EPR Center has a number of X-band (9 GHz) instruments available for cell-based in vitro studies. Four such instruments are located in Rooms 130 and 134 of the TMRF, and a single unit is available in Room 0020 of the BRT. Three of the units are of the Bruker 300 series, equipped with 12 inch magnets and rectangular cavities. The final two systems (134 TMRF and 0020 BRT) are Bruker EMX units, equipped with “High Q” cavities. Quartz flat cells can be used on all of these instruments for cell-based studies. The Center also has a one-of-a-kind, multipurpose/multimodal combination EPR system. The unit, a Bruker Elexsys, is capable of operation at either X-band or L-band, in continuous wave or pulsed EPR modes of operation, and can perform both spectroscopy and imaging of samples. Compatible equipment exists for analysis of cryogenic samples, as well.

The center has two Magnettech CU-5 L-band (1.2 GHz) spectrometers for in vivo studies involving small animal subjects. The units are equipped with loop resonators and automatic tuning and coupling capability to minimize noise due to heartbeat and respiration of the animal subjects.

The center also has one modular home-built L-band (1.2 GHz) unit with custom-designed gradient coils and controls for spectroscopic imaging applications. The unit can be set up in a number of different configurations and resonator types, depending upon the samples undergoing analysis.

Cell Culture Laboratories (Rooms 350 and 355 BRT)

There are two laboratories to support cell culture operations. Each is equipped with a Class II biosafety cabinet (Thermo-Forma, NuAire), two mixed gas incubators with O₂/CO₂/N₂ control (Revco, Thermo Forma), water baths (Forma, Precision), centrifuges (Sorvall, Hermle), specialized hypoxia/hyperoxia cell culture chambers (BioSpherix), inverted microscopes (Fisher, Nikon), Western blotting apparatus (Thermo, BioRad), and combination refrigerator/freezers (Kenmore). The facility in 350 BRT is also equipped with a microplate reader (Beckman-Coulter), a NucleoCounter (New Brunswick Scientific), a high-accuracy balance (Mettler-Toledo) and a -20 °C commercial freezer unit (Kenmore). A PCR unit (Applied Biosystems Veriti) and a fume hood (Hamilton) are also present in room 355 BRT. In the hallway area outside of these two rooms, a -80 °C freezer (Thermo-Forma) and a liquid nitrogen storage freezer (Thermo Forma) are present for long-term storage of cell lines and tissue specimens.

Small Animal Surgical Facilities (Rooms 0090E BRT and 184 TMRF)

Both of these rooms are outfitted for small animal survival surgery procedures, and are thus similarly equipped. Current equipment includes an array of surgical instruments (Harvard and Roboz Scientific); an anesthesia machine (SurgiVet), ventilator (Harvard Apparatus), fiber optic light source (Intralux), rodent operating table (Harvard Apparatus), stereo zoom operating microscope (Nikon SMZ800 surgical microscope with boom stand), stapling equipments, razors, blood pressure and electrophysiology data monitoring and collection apparatus with analysis software (AD Instruments), homoeothermic blanket with a rectal probe (Harvard Apparatus), and laser Doppler blood flow monitors (Moor Instruments). Surgical procedures are performed using aseptic techniques with sterile instruments, sterile drapes, sterile gloves, and un-expired drugs.

Physiology Laboratories (Rooms 144 and 150 TMRF)

The physiology lab spaces, part of the Biomedical EPR Center, are equipped for small animal surgical procedures and ex vivo perfused heart Langendorff-type studies for investigation of the cardioprotective capability of experimental compounds.

Ultrasound Imaging Laboratory (Room 150 TMRF)

This room houses a Vevo 2100 (VisualSonics) high-resolution ultrasound unit for echocardiographic data collection (M-mode) and imaging of mice, rats, and rabbits. This system has a built-in physiological monitoring capability and is equipped with several ultrasound probe heads of different frequencies, depending upon the animal species used.

Fluorescence Microscope (Room 185 TMRF)

There is a Nikon TE2000-U inverted light microscope that provides high quality images captured by 4, 10, 20, 40 and 100X objective lenses, which are integrated with 1.5X magnification changeover. An Epi-fluorescence attachment enables collection of blue, green and red fluorescent images (fitted to DAPI, FITC, and Texas Red stains). Digital capture and analysis of images are controlled by the MetaMorph software package.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Systems (Rooms 190 TMRF and 0084 BRT)

The Small Animal Imaging Shared Resource (SAISR) of the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center has available two different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems available for small animal in vivo studies. The first unit is a vertical bore 11.7 T machine for murine subjects only in the TMRF. The second is a 9.4 T horizontal-bore unit for murine, rat, and rabbit subjects in the BRT.

Miscellaneous

The Small Animal Imaging Shared Resource of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is directed by Dr. Kuppusamy, is located on the ground floor of the TMRF and the basement of the BRT. Common equipment available to all researchers includes a UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Varian Cary 50), HPLC, and NIikon surgical / dissection microscope with digital imaging capability. There is also a broad range of other equipment including pH meters, balances, sterile laminar flow hoods, fume hoods, water baths, dry baths, stirring hotplates, microwave, vortexters, micropipettes, and tabletop centrifuges. A cold room is located on the ground floor of the TMRF. Additional equipment available to all TMRF building occupants includes a Millipore MilliQ Biocel gradient water supply system; two autoclaves and a laboratory glassware washer. Similar facilities can be found on the 3rd floor of the BRT.

Additional Shared Resources Available at The Ohio State University

Pathology Core Facility: Services provided by the pathology core facility include routine histology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, cryotomy, in situ hybridization, and tissue microarray. Flow Cytometry Core Facility: the Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Analysis Core is a joint venture between the Comprehensive Cancer Center and The Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute. Instrumentation includes the FACS Aria, FACS Calibur, and FACS Vantage. The facility is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year to trained users. Staff assisted service and analysis of samples is also available on a pre-scheduled basis.