Shown is Dr. James Blair sitting at the Silicone Graphics Molecular Modeling Computer, which is one of more than 10 major pieces of equipment housed in the Recombinant DNA/Protein Resource Facility. The Facility is located on the OSU Stillwater campus in the Noble Research Center.
The Facility began functioning in 1992 through funding from federal, state, and private sources, including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Sarkeys Foundation. In addition, individual researchers on the OSU campuses have contributed equipment and research dollars towards the Facility.
Currently, more than 80 laboratories on the OSU campuses and from other institutions in Oklahoma use the Facility's resources and services. Research conducted using the Facility includes: energy transformation in plants and animals; environmental stress responses in plants; plant and animal viruses; protein structure and function; and growth regulation in plants, insects, and animals.
The goal of the Facility is to further research in molecular biology at OSU by providing access to the latest technologies and by encouraging the use of such technologies. To achieve this goal, the Facility offers training to not only OSU faculty but also to researchers throughout the state. To date, the Facility has trained over 100 people through individual consultations and formal hands-on training workshops. More than half of those trained are OSU faculty wanting to incorporate new DNA technology into their research programs.
Besides training, the Facility also offers expert consultations from two of the faculty: Dr. John Cushman, a nucleic acids specialist, and Dr. Steven White, a protein specialist. Dr. Ulrich Melcher directs the Facility.
Dr. Blair is the Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He helped develop the Facility and uses its resources in his own research. Dr. Blair is also the President of the Oklahoma Affiliate of the American Heart Association and serves on its Research Board.
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