Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Aug 10;3(95):95cm21.
doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3002421.

Core facilities: maximizing the return on investment

Gregory K Farber  1 , Linda Weiss
Affiliations

Core facilities: maximizing the return on investment

Gregory K Farber et al. Sci Transl Med. .

Abstract

To conduct high-quality state-of-the-art research, clinical and translational scientists need access to specialized core facilities and appropriately trained staff. In this time of economic constraints and increasing research costs, organized and efficient core facilities are essential for researchers who seek to investigate complex translational research questions. Here, we describe efforts at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and academic medical centers to enhance the utility of cores.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Nourishing the core
New career paths must be paved for those who manage or work in core facilities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ivanetich KM, Niece RL, Rohde M, Fowler E, Hayes TK. Biotechnology core facilities: Trends and update. FASEB J. 1993;7:1109–1114. - PubMed
    1. Angeletti RH, Bonewald LF, De Jongh K, Niece R, Rush J, Stults J. Research technologies: Fulfilling the promise. FASEB J. 1999;13:595–601. - PubMed
    1. Orenstein JM. The medical center core facility is the natural domain of the pathology department. Hum Pathol. 2011;42:151–152. - PubMed

    1. Many core facilities are supported under the P30 activity code. In FY 2010, NIH funded 493 existing P30 awards and 27 new awards. The total amount awarded was $637 million. This is certainly an underestimate of the support to core facilities because it does not count charges paid by R01 recipients to use the cores, all of the other ways that NIH funds core facilities, or the instrumentation that is awarded to such cores using the S10 activity code.

    1. NOT-RR-09-003, an initial Request for Information about Issues related to Core Facilities can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-RR-09-003.html.

LinkOut - more resources