Scientific Service Cores


The Emory National Primate Research Center (EPC) is home to six service cores, which help make the Center a specialized facility that serves as a resource to researchers worldwide. From offering state-of-the-art genetic information production and analysis to housing world-class imaging technology, our Center's researchers and Service Cores are available to help you with your research proposals and protocols.

With more than 40 years of experience providing hormone assays for Emory researchers as well as research colleagues nationwide, the EPC Biomarkers Core offers a range of technologies, including liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, ELISA, automated enzyme immunoassays and chemiluminescent immunoassays to quantify hormones in a variety of biomatrices.

The laboratory currently provides determinations for more than 120 compounds validated for nonhuman primates, humans and some other mammalian species. For more information, contact Dr. Kelly Ethun.

The EPC Genomics Core is a service laboratory that provides researchers at the EPC, the Emory Vaccine Center (EVC) and the greater Emory community with access to cutting-edge, high-throughput genomic technologies, including Next Generation sequencing (NGS) and Microarray gene expression analysis. The GenCore, which features an Illumina HiSeq1000 System, an Affymetrix GeneChip platform and an Agilent Bioanalyzer, offers a diverse set of genomic assays, including NGS applications such as RNAseq, targeted resequencing, ChIP-seq and miRNA sequencing.

The GenCore provides a start-to-finish solution, assisting in pre-experimental consultation, assay design, sample preparation, nucleic acid quality assessment and bioinformatics analysis. For more information, contact Dr. Steve Bosinger.

The EPC Imaging Core offers state-of-the-art imaging capabilities for non-invasive studies of the anatomy, physiology and function of nonhuman primate and rodent brains. The EPC Imaging Core provides technology allowing researchers to see cell damage in a living brain, to make earlier diagnoses and to better answer questions surrounding the studies of neurophysiology, neuroscience, neurology and neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition to offering MRI and PET scanning capabilities, the EPC Imaging Core offers electronic and mechanical workshops, premier computation resources, in-house animal facilities and veterinary support during imaging studies. For more information, contact Dr. Phillip Zhe Sun.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Tetramer Core Facility, established in 1999 at the EPC, provides custom synthesis and distribution of soluble MHC-peptide tetramer reagents that can be used to stain antigen-specific T cells. In addition to Class I MHC tetramer production, the NIH Tetramer Facility also provides human and mouse CD1d tetramers and custom class II MHC reagents for four distinct HLA-DR alleles. For more information, contact Dr. John Altman.

The EPC Virology Core is a service laboratory providing necessary support for the management of the EPC macaque and mangabey colonies through the use of serological and molecular testing for viruses. This management aspect includes the maintenance of the specific pathogen-free (SPF) rhesus macaque colony. Additionally, the Virology Core provides support for experimental studies ongoing at the EPC, Emory University, as well as outside the University. The functions of the Virology Core also include the management of the BSL3 facilities at the EPC and the management of the radiation facilities. For more information, contact Dr. Matt Gardner.