Complex human brain banking services: 

• Unstained slides or sections from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) or frozen blocks
• Special tissue collection request
• Blood/Serum/Plasma
• Postmortem tissue-derived fibroblasts and iPSCs

Mouse brain banking services: 

• fresh mouse brain removal 
• dissection of discrete regions from fresh, fixed, or frozen brain tissue
• equipment rental for freezing mouse brains with isopentane chilled with LN2.

(Isopentane chilled with LN₂ is a better and effective way to freeze and preserve high-quality tissue for advanced spatial molecule technologies.)

Sample Storage Services:

• Liquid Nitrogen Freezer Storage with alarm (per box/year)
• -80°C Freezer Storage with 24/7 monitor alarms (per box/year)

Spatial Transcriptomics and Multi-omics Programs:

• DNA, RNA, and Protein extractions from tissue, blood, and cell pellets
• Vizgen's MERSCOPE: based on the Multiplexed Error Robust Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization 
• 10X Genomics Visium Spatial Transcriptomics  (fresh-frozen, fixed-frozen, or FFPE): from sample preparation to imaging, sequencing, and data analysis
• ACD's RNAscope in situ hybridization

Bioinformatics Services: 

• NanoString nCounter Gene Expression panels: from sample preparation to the targeted high-plex gene expression data analysis
• PartekFlow Access (per hour)

Equipment for training and rental:

• Eppendorf high-speed centrifuge 5430 R
• Bio-Rad T100 Thermal Cycler

• Epredia™ CryoStar™ NX50 Cryostat

• Qiagen PyroMark Q48 Autoprep: Pyromark DNA sequencing for CpG methylation, Allele Quantification (AQ), Genotyping (SNP), and Sequence Analysis (SQA)

• Biosafety cabinet (Baker's SterilGARD Certified Class II Type A2, e3)

• EOVS AMEX1000 Microscope

• PHCbi CO₂ Incubator 

Research Core Agreement: 

External users must have a Research Core Agreement with an established PO in order to utilize the core. Our goal is to remain the rates significantly lower than the market rates, and these rates still reflect a substantial subsidy from the CCOM and INI. The services will be supplied after the invoice has been paid or on the presentation of a purchase order by the external users. If you are intending to use human specimens in future projects, please include the service costs in any upcoming grant applications.

Fees and Billing:

All investigators are required to submit a Request Form for review. We charge a fee for any instruments and services. Shipment fees via FedEx and/or UPS are paid for by the recipient. Local investigators may pick up samples at the NeuroBank Core. A full listing of specimens, instruments, and service rates is available upon request. Users can now pay by MFKs, checks, or credit cards using our online bill pay option.

The Iowa NeuroBank Core has been generously supported and heavily subsidized by Iowa Neuroscience Institute (INI),  Carver College of Medicine (CCOM), John and Suzanne Hensing, and Roy J Carver Charitable Trust. This core facility is not financially supported as NIH NeuroBioBank, and our institution mandates that core facilities must be self-supporting.