ICPO

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

Facilities and Support Units

Central Computation and LAN Facility

In order to have the smooth functioning and complete computerization in the Institute the Local Area Network system was installed in the Institute. The installation of LAN, ISDN Connection, server, PC, router, installation of Antivirus Software, configuration of E-mail accounts was done. Now LAN system is fully operational in the Institute. Every scientist in the institute has the access to the Internet to keep abreast with the latest scientific information and technological developments happening in their research field. Institute has a large number of computers connected through intra-network. The institute also provides the internet facility to the students. Besides this, the network facility is used to share resources (files, printers, data, etc.). The facility is increasing the overall productivity, scientific management and administration. For conducting training program on networking in the institute, persons from ICMR and HCL delivered the lectures at regular intervals. Central Computation also conducts several training programs to use statistical software packages such as SPSS, EPIINFO, and SX. In order to meet the requirement of administration and accounts, Payroll Software have been developed and modified from to time, in order to meet with the requirement of Institute. The facility also prepares the computerized posters in graphic software (Adobe Photo Shop), which can be displayed at different science exhibitions and conferences. Central Computation also offers consultancy to faculty members, staff and students of MAMC and other institutes for their M.D., Ph.D. degree.
Central Instrumentation
The past two years have seen the consolidation as well as augmentation of the research infrastructure at ICPO. The growth of the institute in the past couple of years made it necessary to organize several of the support activities into formal service facilities. After shifting to our new campus, we have created a central facility for instrumentation. Two labs covering approximately 1000 square feet of space are designated for this purpose. Very shortly these labs will be made dust free for the smooth functioning of costly, sensitive and high-end equipments for better management and best utilization. Some of the major equipment facilities are: -
*Laser dissecting Microscope (Leica DMLA) -* This equipment is being used to micro dissect portion of tissue section to get the homogeneous population of cancerous or normal or dysplastic from the whole section and the dissected out portion is automatically collected in PCR tube which can be directly processed for Nucleic Acid extraction and studied as required. This facility is being used for various studies in the divisions of Molecular Genetics, Molecular Oncology, Molecular Immunology and the division of Cytopathology.
*Image Analyzer -* This equipment is very useful for taking microscopic images and analyzing physical parameters like diameter, area of the cells or the group of cells. Beside this it has software for Human Cytogenetics parameters like karyotyping of G banded chromosome preparations, QCGH analysis etc. The division of Cytopathology, Molecular Genetics and Molecular Oncology are extensively using this equipment. Various software we are using with this equipment are LEICA Qwin for Image analysis tasks,LEICA Chantal for Cytogenetics solutions, LEICA QCGH for Cytogenetics solutions
*Real-Time PCR*– Recently, ICPO acquired Biorad Real-Time PCR which enabled the absolute quantification of DNA and RNA templates in clinical sample. The sophisticated machine is very helpful in monitoring the progress of HPV infection in cervical tissue scrapes and biopsies. Real time PCR has improved rapidity, sensitivity, reproducibility of the reactions and also reduced the risk of carrying over the contamination.
*Automatic DNA Sequencing Facility*
This instrument is extensively used to detect mutation and polymorphism in various genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, p53, TNF a etc. involved in various cancers as well nucleotide variant analysis of HPV-16 and HPV-18 genome in cervical cancer. This facility is regularly used by division of Molecular Oncology and Molecular Genetics of the Institute. The model is ABI PRISM 310 and provided by Applied Biosystems.

*Peptide Synthesizer -* The peptide synthesizer is semi-automated and capable of synthesizing oligopeptides upto 45 couplings automatically, without reloading or user intervention. The peptide synthesis starts from the C-terminus and proceeds to the N-terminus. The coupling rate varies with each amino acid residue from approximately 0.95-0.99 (95-99%). Therefore, the yield of the peptide products varies according to the length of the peptides and the variation of the amino acids. In general, the longer the desired peptides are, the lower the yield become. The basic reagents used for the synthesis of peptide are essential amino acids, Piperidine, Methylmorpholine, DMF, Trifluroacetic acid, Nitrogen gas and Resins. This instrument is provided by Protein Technologies and the model no of instrument is PS 3.
*DNA Synthesizer -* This instrument is utilized for the synthesis of the primers (oligonucleotides). DNA oligonucleotides are used for a wide variety of genomic analysis techniques. This instrument was purchased from the Applied Biosystems and the model number is 381 A DNA.
*Gel Documentation Facility -* We had earlier GDS from Biorad, which was over used, and one more GDS is obtained and is being used as common facility.
*Ultracenrifuges -* During the period of report, ICPO acquired a new ultracentrifuge under the project scheme. This facility is being used for the isolation of different biomolecules.
*Phosphorimager -* Institute is in final stages of purchase of this long awaited equipment which will enable the scientists and students to more effectively document the radioactivity experiment without using expensive, labor-intensive and time consuming autoradiography techniques. This instrumentation is more sensitive and has images of lower resolution as compared to conventional autoradiography. Time can be reduced by 80% and image can be improved by 100 fold in magnitude as compared to the manual method of autoradiography.

*Microarray Facility -* Institute is purchasing equipments necessary to establish the microarray facility such as microarray scanner, Hybridization unit and a mini-spotter. The first two are in final stages of procurement whereas the spotter is being tendered. This facility will be utilized in the ICMR intramural and exramural projects dealing genomics of cervical carcinogenesis.
Updated on: 15 September 2006