An Introduction to the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities ABRF A non-profit all-volunteer society since 1986

What is the ABRF?  ABRF members are from over 300 international core laboratories in academia, government, and industry, in a broad spectrum of biomolecular technologies  The ABRF promotes the research, technology, communication and education of scientists through Research Groups and Committees, Affiliates and Chapters, annual conferences with educational courses, a quarterly journal, a Newsletter, Research Group publications, and Listserves  The ABRF is unique for providing benchmarking studies by its Research Groups and has efficient mechanisms for networking and sharing  The annual meeting is a top technology meeting with over 1000 participants  The ABRF hosts 2 on-line discussion forums with over 1800 participants: one focused on scientific, technical and applications topics, the second devoted to administrative and management issues faced by core facility personnel.  ABRF is forming a core facility related VP network to complete the networking

A resource-rich web site

Research Groups are unique to ABRF Activities: Survey constituents for infrastructure, interests and recommendations Benchmark reagents, instruments, software, and protocols. Allows individual cores to benchmark their own performance anonymously Discuss findings at annual meeting and publish at ABRF web site and in journals Coordinate studies involving multiple RGs Posters available on line Provides contacts for members who seek consultation Sharing of trusted protocols Provides the infrastructure to support future research groups: e.g.: Flow, Translational Research, and Drug Screening

ABRF tools for new Research Groups ABRF provide new Research Groups with a web page and Listserves for interactions, and an established institution to enable multi-center scientific collaborations Time, space and budget at annual meetings for interactions with colleagues through scientific sessions, workshops, and roundtables A conference call account and budget Access to vendor leaders for support of benchmarking study Access to core related administrators of various institutions Access to groups with common interests to solve problems, to benchmark, and for expensive technologies to get up to speed quickly Access to a growing list of ABRF global affiliates and Chapters Indemnity insurance as officers of ABRF A volunteer career path to recognition and to demonstrate leadership

DNA Sequencing Research Group Benchmark the applications of Next Gen sequencers 2011 Target enrichment Study: Illumina and Roche/454 methods. Test multiple methods with a control sample of 2Mb continuous region ABRF-SEQ Study: Transcriptome comparison on all available NGS platforms

Proteomics Research Group Standardization and Guidelines

Light Microscopy Research Group Quantitative microscopy

ABRF is Networking Technology Forum listserv: “There are no stupid questions” Free and open to all Searchable archive with participants

ABRF Committees ABRF committee service is an excellent means of active contribution by our members and a significant networking opportunity roup.commMenu  Executive Board Executive Board  ABRF Award ABRF Award  Affiliates and Chapters Affiliates and Chapters  Career Development Career Development  Core Administrators Network - Coordinating Committee Core Administrators Network - Coordinating Committee  Corporate Advisory Corporate Advisory  Corporate Relations Corporate Relations  Education Education  Finance and Investments Finance and Investments  Membership Membership  Nominations Nominations  Publications Publications  Survey Survey  Travel Award Travel Award  Web Site Web Site

Core Management 1.Core Administrator Network – Coordinating Committee (CAN-CC) - Formed in 2011 to promote two-way communication of core personnel with their administrators 2. CAN-CC Forum listserv 3.Educational activities at annual meetings 4.ABRF Recommended Guidelines for Authorship on Manuscripts 5.Research Technologies: Fulfilling the Promise. Angeletti, Bonewald, de Jongh, Niece, Rush and Stults (1999) FASEB Journal 13:595

Education  Discussion Forum – the listservs  Journal of Biomolecular Techniques  Outreach to students, including at ABRCMS meeting  ABRF 2012 meeting – Mar , Orlando, FL,  Pre-meeting Courses: e.g.:  Protein Purification and MS  Metabolomics  NextGen DNA Sequencing  Core Facility Management

Advisors to the Executive Board Outreach to non-ABRF core facilities Promote sponsorship of ABRF by academic institutes Consultation on future ABRF priorities with respect to institutions, the nation, and the world

Outreach to non- ABRF core facilities Comprehensive Cancer Center CCSG Cores Academic centers not with a CCSG focus NIH cores NIH-funded special programs cores. E.g.: CTSA, IDeA, NICL International research centers

Academic Sponsors support ABRF We need more academic sponsors To become a sponsor: ors/Academic_Sponsors.htm

Academic Sponsors Academic sponsorship supports the missions of ABRF to be creative and confident in strengthening the core economy and the education of its members Logos of sponsors are displayed throughout the ABRF web site ABRF provides one to three free membership slots for each sponsor level and guidance to become active in ABRF ABRF provides the infrastructure to initiate research groups in support of the technology focus the sponsors

Network of VPs involved in cores A new ABRF initiative to complete the networking mechanisms for the personnel, administrators, VP and Provosts who influence the core facility economy an performance The initial panel who will facilitate the growth of the VP network are: Reginald Miller Associate Dean for Research Resources Mount Sinai School of Medicine. John Sullivan Vice Chancellor for Research University of Massachusetts Medical School Karl Steiner Senior Associate Provost for Research Development University of Delaware John Gricoski Vice President of Research Administration Fox Chase Cancer Center Alan McClelland, PhD Associate Vice President, Programs, Infrastructure and Planning Office of the Vice President for Translational Research MD Anderson Cancer Center

ABRF Welcomes Affiliates & Chapters NERLSCD

Membership Benefits Networking, education, research and technology communication Opportunities for working with the best practitioners of core facility services Opportunity to benchmark one’s performance with one’s peers Opportunities to connect with personnel of all levels of the core economy, from technicians to directors to core administrators and VPs of numerous institutions Connect with colleagues in industry and personal interactions with software, equipment and reagent manufacturers Establish leadership, partnership and service internationally

ABRF is active in FASEB Society FASEB is recognized as the policy voice of biological and biomedical researchers on policies and government affairs Members include 24 scientific societies Combined membership over 100,000 researchers ABRF members serve on many FASEB committees Provides career resources through job/resume postings, networking, and educational seminars Promotes minorities in science and student participation