Indiana Islet and Physiology Core

Overview

The Islet and Physiology Core has dedicated 1,389 square feet of space to address the needs of researchers requiring islet isolation and islet functional and morphometric characterization and rodent physiology characterization services.

Services

Services include expert islet isolation services from mice and rats and access to porcine and human islets. The core is equipped with a BioRep Perifusion Apparatus for measurement of dynamic insulin secretion and offers services for islet and beta cell calcium imaging. The core also provides services for islet transplantation and assists investigators who wish to perform immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and/or analysis of endocrine or beta cell mass on whole pancreata from mouse and rat models.

In addition, the core offers several services for rodent metabolic characterization, including performance of insulin and glucose tolerance testing, analysis of body composition, and metabolic cage analysis using the TSE System cages. Recently added services include zebrafish characterization to screen genes (via CRISPR/morpholinos) and small molecules for their effects on islet development and function.