Core Director

Lin Liu, Ph.D, FAPS
Regents Professor of Physiological Sciences
Lundberg-Kienlen Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research
Director, Oklahoma Center for Respiratory and Infectious Diseases
Center for Veterinary Medicine
Oklahoma State University-Stillwater

Contact Information:
E-mail: lin.liu@okstate.edu
Phone: (405) 744-4526
Office: Rm 211, McElroy Hall
Experts: https://experts.okstate.edu/lin.liu

• RNAi gene silencing and CRISPR/Cas9 editing
• Transgene overexpression, mutagenesis, and deletion
• Lentiviral, adenoviral, and nonviral gene transfer
• Stable knockout and transgenic cell-line development
• Bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing
• MicroRNA Sequencing
• Ribosome sequencing/ribosome footprinting (Ribo-seq)
• Spatial gene-expression profiling
• n-counter digital multiplexed profiling
• Genome-wide CRISPR activation, knockout, and interference screens
• Reporter assays, real-time PCR, and droplet digital PCR
• Respiratory and infectious-disease reagents, pathogens, cell lines, primary lung cells, organoids, and clinical samples
• Consultation and training

MBC: Standard Operating Protocol (SOP)

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Molecular Biology and Genomics Core

The listed prices are for academic users. Active CoBRE pilot projects will be charged 75% of the fee schedule and non-academic users will be charged 1.496 of the fee schedule. b) Project-specific consumables and reagents will be provided by or additionally charged to the investigators.

We are excited to announce that the former Molecular Biology Core (MBC) has a new name: Molecular Biology and Genomics Core (MBGC), reflecting the expansion of our genomics capabilities. MBCG is a centralized core facility dedicated to providing cutting-edge molecular biology and genomics technologies and expertise to support a wide array of research needs. Our services range from basic molecular biology techniques to advanced technologies such as CRISPR, single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq), and spatial whole transcriptomics. We offer a comprehensive suite of services, from sample preparation and sequencing to data analysis and interpretation, tailored to assist researchers in exploring complex biological questions.

What is New at MBGC?
We are thrilled to introduce two state-of-the-arts instruments to our facility: the Illumina NextSeq 2000 and the Agilent TapeStation 4150.

Illumina NextSeq 2000: This high-performance next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform offers unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and high-quality data across a wide range of applications. With this addition, MBGC can now perform sequencing in-house, generating high-quality data for in-depth genomic and transcriptomic analyses. The new platform significantly reduces turnaround times of bulk and single cell RNA sequencing services, enhancing our efficiency.

Agilent TapeStation 4150: This compact, automated electrophoresis system provides rapid, reproducible and sensitive quality control of nucleic acids. It ensures accurate assessments of DNA and RNA sample integrity and size distribution, streamlining workflows for applications such as NGS and transcriptomics.

Molecular Biology Core (MBC) continues to provide service and support to standard molecular biology techniques including gene silencing/knockout and overexpression, realtime PCR and bulk RNA sequencing.

We highlight three of the State-of-Art technologies recently developed in the MBC.
Droplet digital PCR: The MBC houses a BioRad QX200 AutoDG Droplet Digital PCR system. Compared to real-time PCR, this system provides the most precise and sensitive absolute quantification of target DNA or RNA molecules.

Human lung tissue models: Current in vitro cell culture systems and animal models do not faithfully replicate the pathology of human diseases. The MBC has developed iPSC-derived human alveolar organoids for respiratory pathogen infections and is offering the unique resource to Center investigators. They recapitulate the in vivo alveolar epithelium and are more physiologically relevant than other systems for studying human biology. These organoids express alveolar epithelial type II cell markers, have high expression of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus infections. The MBC is currently developing iPSC-derived human alveolar organoids with mesenchymal and immune components.

Single cell RNA sequencing: scRNA-seq has become a popular tool in biomedical research, including the investigation of respiratory infectious diseases. Researchers can use single-cell data to characterize and identify heterogeneous cell populations, reveal novel cell types, characterize rare cell types, identify new cell markers and regulatory pathways and profile heathy and diseased tissue and organs. In the past year, MBC has established scRNAseq data analysis pipeline by reanalyzing publicly available scRNA-seq datasets and will generate our own scRNAseq datasets by November 2023. The MBC has Chromium iX from 10x Genomics in the Core and will be able to manage BSL2/3 samples for scRNA-seq.

The overall objective of the Molecular Biology Core (MBC) is to provide centralized services and cuttingedge technologies and expertise in molecular biology.
MBC provides the following services and support,
1) Functional studies using RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9, transgene overexpression, mutagenesis and deletion, lentiviral, adenoviral and non-viral vectors for gene transfer,
2) Genome-wide gene profiling using bulk RNA sequencing
3) Genome-wide CRISPR gene activation, knockout and interference screens,
4) Molecular assays including reporter assays, real-time PCR and droplet digital PCR,
5) Reagents for respiratory and infectious disease research including respiratory viruses and bacteria, and reporter viruses, cell lines, primary lung cells, and human lung organoids, and
6) Advice and consultation on various aspects of molecular biology, developing or adapting new methods as needed and disseminating core resources and technologies. Other State-of-the-art technologies under development include knockout and transgenic cell lines, single-cell RNA sequencing, and spatial gene profiling.