Microbiome Core Facility
Ask us about the new Bifido-chip!
The human body is the home to approximately 10,000,000,000 bacterial cells that inhabit our gastrointestinal tract, mouth, urogenital tract, and our skin. Most of these bacteria are uncultivable, which meant in the past that researchers were unable to study and characterize them. The development of metagenomic technologies allow us today to examine microbial communities trough techniques like amplicon and shotgun whole-genome metagenomic sequencing, and High-troughput and traditional Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (q-PCR).
The activities and research program of the Microbiome Core Facility impact our understanding of the human-associated microbiota and its role in diseases profoundly affecting our society today, including Crohn's disease, colorectal cancer, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes, and will be directly translated into better patient care and prevention programs.
The mission of the Microbiome Core Facility is to provide the research community of the UNC- School of Medicine and the state of North Carolina with the facilities and the expertise to characterize complex microbial communities in a variety of environments.
Available in the Microbiome Core Facility:
Qiagen BioRobot Universal System 
Genetix QPix2 XT Colony Picker System
Applied Biosystems Real-Time PCR System
Roche Genome Sequencer FLX System
Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine