Research Centers: USC Research Center for Liver Diseases

August 13, 2015
Research Centers: USC Research Center for Liver Diseases2022-07-05T06:13:42-07:00

USC Research Center for Liver Diseases has been funded by NIDDK since 1995 with latest renewal through 2020. The ultimate goal is of the Center is to serve as the intellectual focal point for liver research by providing essential core services to the members and fostering collaborations and career development through technological training and scientific development of postdoctoral fellows and young investigators. Its mission is to advance the understanding of the pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of liver diseases.

The program is structured as a core center grant, which supports scientific cores, an enrichment program, and competitive pilot/feasibility project funding (total $150,000) and a New Investigator Transition Award (total $75,000 supported by the Keck School). Announcements for letters of intent and accepted applications for pilot funding are circulated at appropriate times. The applications are expected to relate to the major research themes of the Center, namely viral hepatitis/liver cancer, steatohepatitis/fibrosis, liver injury (hepatotoxicity/mitochondrial pathobiology), and repair/regenerative medicine/developmental biology. We also consider applicants working in non-liver, digestive disease-related areas.

The Center supports four scientific cores, plus an administrative core that oversees all the activities of the Center, as well as a weekly seminar series, an annual symposium, a new mini-symposia and the P/F project program. Detailed descriptions of core services and charges, procedures for accessing services, and prioritization of services can be found at the Center website: https://keck2.usc.edu/Research/Centers_and_Programs/Research_Center_for_Liver_Diseases.aspx For the most part, access to the cores is restricted to Center members and the procedure for application for membership can be found at the website. Members must be working in the field of liver or digestive disease. In some cases, access of non-members to cores is available with lower priority.

The four scientific cores provide technical staff and equipment necessary to support the needs of Center members.

  1. Cell Separation and Culture Core (Director, Bangyan Stiles, Associate Director, Zhang-Xu Liu): This core has been expanded from a longstanding central core that has been a workhorse — preparing high quality primary hepatocyte cultures from normal and diseased mice and rats and various cell lines to a wide range of investigators — by the addition of a Cell Separation sub-core, with instrumentation and expert leadership of a liver immunologist (Dr. Liu) to perform FACS analysis and magnetic cell separation/isolation. The new sub-core also plays role in translational research in DILI and alcoholic hepatitis, supporting funded studies of the role of innate and adaptive immune systems in elucidating pathophysiology, identifying biomarkers, and predicting response to treatments. Under the leadership of Dr. Stiles, beginning in Dec. 2015, the core will also provide isolation of liver progenitor cells, culture of iPS cells and generation of Cas9 liver cell lines.
  2. Liver Histology Core (Director, Gary Kanel): This core provides a wide range of standard and customized slide preparation, histochemistry and immunohistochemistry of liver samples obtained from animals, as well as laser-capture microscopy under the direction of an outstanding liver pathologist, Dr. Kanel. Dr. Kanel also provides expert consultation in interpretation of findings, collaborations and technical oversight.
  3. Analytic, Metabolic, and Instrumentation Core (Director, Murad Ookhtens): This core maintains and provides access and training in the use of major and expensive equipment items, including thermocyclers, plate readers, centrifuges, standard and customized HPLC services, and Seahorse XC Flux Analyzer metabolic applications. Samples for HPLC are brought to the core and run by the technical staff. The core also provides training in the use of equipment. The full list of equipment, location and procedure for access can be found on the website. Dr. Zandi is associate director of the core and directs the state-of-the-art Proteomic Sub-Core. The Proteomic Sub-Core is available to the entire University and is partially supported by the Liver Center in exchange for priority access and discounted services.
  4. Cell & Tissue Imaging Core (Director, Sarah Hamm-Alvarez): This core provides support for confocal and fluorescence microscopy, including access, consultation, technical support and training. The core has a Zeiss LSM 510 microscopy system and a Nikon Diaphot fluorescence microscope. Both are older instruments, but are maintained by the core and are highly suitable for routine applications. The core provides direct technical support and training for Liver Center members and their laboratory staff in identifying and processing images of interest. Experienced users can operate the equipment independently. In order to expand the capabilities of the core and provide Liver Center members with advanced technologies, beginning in Dec. 2015, the Core will offer seminars describing the latest imaging advances and support access to other technologies in the University. Liver Center members will be able to apply for up to $2,500 pilot grants to defray the costs of using other university microscopy cores. Applications will be reviewed by an internal advisory committee. The instruments that will be available through this initiative include:
    • GE DeltaVision OMX system:
      http://cemma.usc.edu/instruments/
      • This system is located in the Center for Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis (CEMMA) at the University Park Campus, a 20-minute shuttle ride for Health Sciences Campus users. John Curulli leads the core. The system includes an optical-sectioning epifluorescence microscope capable of operating in 3D-structured illumination microscopy or 3D-SIM, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy or widefield-deconvolution mode.
    • Leica TCS SP5 Multiphoton system:
      https://keck2.usc.edu/Research/Facilities_and_Resources/Imaging/Multi-Photon_Microscopy_Core.aspx
      • Led by Dr. Janos Peti-Peterdi, this system is housed in the Multi-Photon Microscopy Core at the Keck School. The core is located in the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, ZNI 332, and was established in 2008 as a result of a shared instrumentation grant (S10) from NIH. The multi-photon Leica TCS SP5 fluorescence scanning confocal microscope is powered by a fully automated, broadly tunable (680-1080 nm) Ultra-II infrared pump laser (Coherent).
    • Perkin Elmer Ultraviewers 6 line Spinning Disk Laser Confocal Microscope:
      http://uscnorriscancer.usc.edu/core/confocal/
      • This system is housed in the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and is part of the Cell and Tissue Imaging Core Facility, maintained jointly by USC Norris and USC. The core facility is led by Dr. David Hinton. The spinning disk confocal microscope is an ultra-rapid confocal system for imaging live cells at high resolution, for long time-course experiments, and for multi-color fluorescent protein studies. It is capable of conducting high speed single or multiple probe time-lapse experiments.