Advanced Facilites for RNA Research
Construction of a flexible, sustainable, state-of-the-art facility designed for and dedicated to RNA research begins in Summer, 2012. This $7.4M build-out of 15,000 square feet of shell space in the 7-year old Life Science Research Building on the UAlbany campus will be completed by Spring, 2013. The facility will have an (1) Advanced RNA Computational Center with a Linux cluster and access to the Blue Gene Supercomputer (an initiative of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM, and NYS) for computer modeling and in silico high throughput screening of small molecules against novel RNA-based therapeutic targets; (2) Advanced RNA Instrumentation Facility, an environment for RNA biomedical research, to extend basic research discoveries into applied research programs for developing RNA-based therapeutics, diagnostics, delivery systems, visualization systems, and adaptation of equipment for the study of RNA function.
