The Physiology Department provides 24/7 access to its faculty members to a high-volume copier/printer/scanner and a FAX machine.  The Chair’s office contains a conference table to hold department meetings, and small group discussions.

Personnel: Administrative staff includes two secretaries and an administrator that assist faculty and students of the department.  In addition, three research technicians and a laboratory worker are available to help with experiments and paperwork related to research. We also have undergraduate students from other campuses of the UPR system that participate in the research projects of our faculty members.

Student facilities

  • Study Room – Available for our graduate students with 3 high speed internet connections, chairs and tables for 6 students at a time.
  • Graduate Student Lounge – Area where graduate students can sit, have meals, and socialize.  It has a table, chairs, a small sofa, refrigerator, microwave and small oven.
  • Classroom: A small classroom with 5 high speed internet connections is available.   It has 6 cubicles, two large conference tables with chairs, a projector, screen and whiteboards. The room is available to teach our graduate courses, for laboratory meetings, videoconferences and seminars.

Communication

  • Computers are connected to internet 2 via fiber optic cables (LAN) to expedite transfer of large files, such as those generated from confocal microscopy, and by wireless access, facilitating communication and transfer of data files, with academic institutions of higher learning in PR and abroad.

Research Laboratories

Shared department facilities:

  • Cold room for experiments that require low temperatures.
  • Our  Behavioral Suite contains ten locomotor activity chambers from Accuscan (San Diego), which can also be used for conditioned place preference tests, a treadmill, elevated plus maze, and computers with ANY-Maze and Versadax software for behavioral measurement and analysis.
  • The microscope facility contains a Zeiss confocal system, an upright fluorescent microscope, a dissecting microscope, a Hamamatsu photomultiplier camera and a Zeiss color camera.  The image analysis system consists of a computer with Image J and software from Imaging Research Inc..
  • Core facility with basic laboratory equipment (analytical balances, homogenizers, vibratomes, centrifuges, etc).

MSC Core Laboratory Facilities

  • Available to all students and researchers of the MSC. These facilities house major instruments, such as ultracentrifuges, scintillation and gamma counters, plate readers, Odyssey 5000, among others.  The UPR RCMI Institutional core facilities on the 6th floor also provides ultra-pure dd H2O and ice.

Animal  Resource Center (ARC)

  • The animal facilities occupy the 10th and 11th floor of the Main Building and houses mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits and rhesus macaques. It is staffed with 2 full time veterinarians, 3 animal health care technicians, five animal caretakers and an administrator. It complies with all NIH regulations and is approved by AALAC. The ARC contains the necessary trained personnel, specialized rooms (BL2 and BL3 laboratory spaces with appropriate hoods) and facilities to conduct animal research.  The ARC also contains surgery suites and a necropsy room.

Intellectual Resources/Collaborations

  • The UPR MSC has a 7-floor library adjacent to the Main Building.  It contains a large number of books and is subscribed to a variety of scientific, clinical and biomedical journals.  Many of these journals are available on-line from within and from outside of the university’s LAN system. Internet access to these databases facilitates the preparation of manuscripts and grant proposal and keeps investigators and students up to date with the latest scientific findings.
  • The UPR MSC and Rio Piedras Campus provide the opportunity to join areas of expertise in the design and execution of collaborative research projects.  The campuses are located about 15 minutes away from each other. Both campuses contain core research facilities, as well as amphitheaters and meeting rooms where there are many opportunities to meet in person for laboratory discussions, journal club reunions, and seminars.  Virtual meetings extend meeting opportunities.  Several investigators from our Department and the Biology Department are currently collaborating on two federally funded research projects.