

Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics
The Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics (CBFG), in ºÚÁÏÉçÇø's College of Arts and Science, is a state-of-the-art research and training facility available for all members of the university. The CBFG provides tools for preparing DNA samples for research and for determining the sequence of these DNA samples.
About the Center
The center, located in Pearson Hall, is available to any faculty, staff, and ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs at ºÚÁÏÉçÇø and is most heavily utilized by ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Geology, and Microbiology.
Although many faculty at ºÚÁÏÉçÇø utilize these tools provided by the CBFG, it is ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs that most often perform the daily work involved in this research. This includes both graduate and undergraduate ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs with a wide range of majors. Some projects even involve local high school ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs. Students can learn how to use some of the same high-tech equipment that is featured in popular TV programs, such as criminal investigation and medical dramas.

Training in the CBFG supports a number of important programs at ºÚÁÏÉçÇø. These include the interdisciplinary Cell, Molecular, and Structural Biology (CMSB) and the Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (EEEB) graduate level programs in partnership with several undergraduate specific programs, such as the Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS), Howard Hughes Summer Internships (HHSI), Doctoral-Undergraduate Opportunities for Scholarship (DUOS), Undergraduate Research Award Program (URA), and the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation.
The center provides ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs with training and resources to learn the most contemporary techniques in genomics and bioinformatics. Training and hands-on experience is provided to all ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs whether they are experienced researchers or in their very first research experience. This level of hands-on experience and personal training is not often available at many larger undergraduate institutions.

Undergraduate and graduate ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs perform much of the work involved in the biotechnology research here in the Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics. Sometimes even local high school ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs participate in CBFG projects. The center provides all of these ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs with training and resources to learn the most modern techniques in biotechnology.
The center also supports several local programs such as Butler Biotech where high school ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs from Butler County learn contemporary biotechnology applications.

The resources of the center focus mainly on DNA sequence information, which is central to all areas of biology and biochemistry. It is the sequence of nucleotide bases encoded in DNA that defines every living organism. The CBFG provides tools for preparing DNA samples for research and for determining the sequence of these DNA samples.
CBFG provides ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs with hands-on training so that they can conduct their own research using instruments and software that undergraduates at larger universities would rarely see, let alone be able to use.
Conducting Research in the CBFG I
Conducting Research in the CBFG II
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