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Analysis of novel risk factors influencing control of food intake and regulation of body weight
Laboratory
A short review of the existing infrastructure at the Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava and its partner, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Paris (France) is presented bellow.
Two platforms, one for germ free facility (ANAXEM) and one for quantitative metagenomics (METAQUANT) are available at the Research Center in Jouy-en-Josas and essential in this project. The experimental laboratory is equipped with biochemical bench space, refrigerators, freezers (-20ºC, -80ºC), waterbath, shakers, miscellaneous histological and chemical equipment, centrifuges, micro and nano scales. We are also equipped with immunohistochemistry equipment, and basic equipment for hormonal assays. The surgeries are done in the surgery suites that are equipped with Zeiss operating microscope, respiratory pumps, ECG monitor and thermostatic pads. The behavioral rooms are equipped with individual suspended cages for monitoring short and long term food intakes. The histology area contains a newly acquired cryostat, exhaust hoods and several refrigerators and sinks. Our microscopy area contains a research grade microscope equipped for fluorescence imaging; (Nikon, E600), and image analysis equipment (monochrome video camera, image capture software and hardware, and analysis programs - MetaVue, Universal Imaging Corporation). Additional shared equipment is available.
High Performance Computing (HPC) Laboratory has been significantly enhanced in 2009 by the acquisition of a second IBM BladeCenter QS22/LS22 computer cluster with 96 computing core processors and a storage capacity of 6.9 TB in HDD and 40 GB in RAM. This computer cluster is (to the best of our knowledge) the second most powerful computer existent in a Romanian university being able to reach more than 10 Tflops. A second cluster (28 computing cores, 10 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) is also available in the HPC laboratory. Since an important part of our project consists of data management and analysis of high computational complexity, this readily available HPC infrastructure represents a strong support for the project development, as well as for the external collaborators interested in this project.