The University of New Mexico (UNM) has the ideal scientific environment to conduct our research. The NCI-designated UNMCCC has an infrastructure that offers close collaboration between basic and clinical investigators and all requisite support for our work. Dr. Kim is a Full Member of the Cancer Center Cell & Molecular Oncology (CMO) Program. For details, please visit UNMCCC website: https://unmhealth.org/cancer/research/programs/cellular-molecular-oncology.html

Located on the UNM Health Sciences Center campus, the CRF is a 3-story, 110,000 sq. ft. research building that houses a large number of the UNMCCC Program Members, including laboratory space for the Kim lab as well as the majority of its Shared Resources, including Analytical and Translational Genomics (ATG), Fluorescence Microscopy and Cell Imaging, and Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Analytics.  The Kim lab also has an easy and convenient access to other Shared Resources such as Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism (AIM) CoBRE Scientific Core, UNM HSC School of Medicine Animal Resource Facility (ARF), UNM Human Tissue Repository and Tissue Analysis Shared Resource (HTR-TASR), UNM Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC), and Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC)

The Kim lab is within walking distance from the offices of NIH-funded experts in biochemistry, biophysics, cell biology, immunology, cancer biology, and metabolic diseases. This community not only allows easy sharing of recourses but also promotes communication and discussion of science.

The Pathology Department, Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, Comprehensive Cancer Center, and AIM Center each host seminar series featuring external speakers, contributing to a dynamic and vibrant scientific environment. In addition, there are several works-in-progress meetings, such as the Tuesday Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism Seminar series, which include participants from the UNM community as well as scientists from the nearby Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute and Sandia National Laboratories. This collaborative environment promotes enhanced interactions, mentorship, and resource sharing, all of which are highly beneficial to trainees.

AFM is a gold-standard method that allows sub-nanometer interrogation of biological samples with exceptional signal-to-noise, making possible a broader range of measurements from single molecules to living cells. We recently acquired the AFM system, which is designed specifically to address difficult experimental challenges in biomedical science including precise force measurements and high-resolution topography of biological samples. The BIO AFM system is in the UNM Fluorescence Microscopy Shared Resource, on the same floor as my laboratory, allowing convenient access to the AFM. (More information: https://unmhealth.org/cancer/research/shared-resources/microscopy.html)

Incucyte (Sartorius) is a stand-alone dual-color fluorescent imaging system. It is housed in a card-accessible UNMCCC Shared Resource lab on the 2nd floor of the CRF, and can be accessed at all times by trained users. The Incucyte S3 can image cells in multiwell plates up to 384 wells for high-throughput assays and each well is imaged over time in user-defined imaging intervals (e.g. once an hour). The Incucyte S3 has an objective turret with 4X, 10X, and 20X objectives that can be automatically toggled to provide optimal magnification for each assay. The S3 software can perform a variety of analyses on the large datasets such as quantifying live vs dead cells based on fluorescent reporters, measuring wound healing over time, and plotting average changes in replicates over time. 

The AIM Scientific Core houses the Thermo Scientific CellInsight CX7 Cellomics or High Content Screening (HCS) Platform. The CellInsight CX7 platform offers high intensity 7-color/channel mixed LED and laser light source providing long term stability for high quality fluorescence imaging, high intensity 4-color LED source providing long term stability for high quality brightfield imaging, an integrated confocal spinning disk unit, and independently controlled 5-position dichroic mirror wheel and 6-position emission filter wheel. Thus, the CellInsight CX7 platform provides ultra-stable solid state illumination source for Hoechst, FITC, TRITC, CFP, YFP, CY5, Texas Red like dyes, etc. and laser illumination for fluorescent near IR dyes. Total 3 CX7s are availalble. For details, https://www.autophagy.center/cores/instruments/cellinsight-cx7 

The Amnis ImagestreamX Mark II, which has a 488nm 200mW excitation laser as well as a 642 nm 150mW red excitation laser, has six high resolution imaging channels, including brightfield, FITC, PE, 7-AAD, PerCPCY5.5, and APC. The images are captured with a 40X objective. The Imagestream combines the quantitative power of flow cytometry with morphological information provided by fluorescence microscopy by capturing spatially aligned images of single-cell data in statistically significant numbers, enabling quantitative studies of molecular co-localization, intracellular trafficking, and signal transduction. 

The Fluorescence Microscopy and Cell Imaging Shared Resource is located in the same building or close proximity to the Kim lab. It is outfitted with three confocal instruments. For more information, please visit the Shared Resources website: https://unmhealth.org/cancer/research/shared-resources/microscopy.html

The Kim lab also has access to the AIM core, where the ZEISS LSM 900 confocal microscope is housed. For more details, https://www.autophagy.center/core/instrument/6d38a425 

The Kim lab has an easy and convenient access to the Flow Cytometry and Single Cell Analytics Shared Resource. The Shared Resource provides the instrumentation and the technical support for cell sorting, including CytoFLEX S and a Sony iCyt SY3200 five laser, high-speed cell sorter capable of four way sorting and single cell deposition, with 488nm, 642nm, 405nm, 561nm, and 355nm lasers for excitation. The Shared Resource also maintains a Becton Dickinson LSRFortessa Flow Cytometer, which has four lasers (fifteen-color analysis) available for extended single cell analysis and immunophenotyping. Additional cytometry instruments include a FACSCalibur (2 lasers), FACScan (1 laser), Attune NXT (4 lasers) and Accuri C6 Plus (2 lasers) analyzers. For details, https://unmhealth.org/cancer/research/shared-resources/flow.html