What do zebrafish, roundworms, fruit flies, and a fire-breathing she-monster have in common? Each, in their own unique way, advances scientific discovery at UCSF, by providing researchers with clues that have implications for human health and the treatment of disease. They also represent a fundamental part of UCSF’s “core resources.”

Core resources are facility banks designed for use by all investigators for all kinds of research. These cores include animal labs, tissue banks, imaging technology, and specially outfitted laboratories. Researchers rely on these dozen or so expertly staffed cores to carry out their work. Every few years a new need crops up; most recently, increasingly advanced laboratory equipment has dominated new investments in core resources.

For example, customized laboratory “robots” are able to mix assays more than 30 times faster than humans, thus vastly accelerating the rate of discovery. The new Islet and Cellular Transplant Facility, used to manufacture insulin-producing cells, is a self-contained “clean room” that meets rigorous FDA standards. In addition to its application for diabetes treatment, the facility – which occupies an entire suite at the Mission Center Building – also offers ideal conditions for stem cell research.

“The investment in core resources is how we execute collaboration,” says Bruce Wintroub, associate dean for special projects.

ZEBRAFISH
While transgenic mice are most commonly associated with research studies, the distinctive characteristics of several other species shed a different light. The most visible light is seen through zebrafish, whose transparent young enable researchers to observe the development of vital organs like watching moving gears on a see-through clock.

FRUIT FLIES
Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, offers researchers a genome-sequenced model system for the study of cell biology and developmental biology. The fly has counterparts for 177 of 289 genes known to be involved in human disease.

ROUNDWORMS
The Caenorhabditis elegans roundworm, about as primitive an organism as there is that nonetheless shares many essential biological characteristics with humans, is also sequenced as a pilot project for the human genome. The Worm Breeders Gazette provides an updated genetic map every two years.

CHIMERA
Chimera is the name of the molecular modeling visualization program developed by the core Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics. While medicine uses the term – derived from the mythological Greek she-monster with a goat’s body, a lion’s head, and serpent’s tail - to describe any organism with a diverse genetic constitution, the resource center prefers the more poetic definition: an illusion, a fabrication, or as John Donne writes, a fancy, a chimera of the mind.