DESCRIPTION: (Investigator's Abstract): The Health Sciences campus of the University of California at San Francisco is one of the foremost centers of Biomedical research in the world. Its Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing employ several hundred outstanding investigators who have exceptional records in achieving NIH awards. The UCSF campus is served by a state-of-the-art biotechnology core facility, the Biomolecular Resource Center (BRC). The BRC has served the UCSF campus since 1985, and fulfills investigators' needs in DNA and peptide sequencing & synthesis. It is housed in 1,900 sq. ft. of laboratory/office space. Over 235 principal investigators have used the facility over the last year. Over 195 PIs have had ca. 19,000 DNA templates sequenced, approximately 145 PIs have had over 4,000 oligonucteotides synthesized, 30 PIs have had 115 peptides synthesized, and 25 PIs have had 80 proteins sequenced. A Board of Overseers, headed by Dr. Daniel Santi, oversees the facility; Dr. Kathryn Ivanetich is the Associate Director and oversees the day-to-day scientific, financial and administrative aspects of the BRC. Funding is requested for an Applied Biosystems 3700 sequencer (partial funding), a Beckman Biomek 2000 robot and an ABI 7700 TaqMan quantitative PCR instrument. The DNA sequencer is needed to provide expanded automation and capacity to cope with increased demand for DNA sequencing. The robot is needed to automate template quantification/normalization and template preparation, which strikingly improve sequencing success rates. The requested sequencer and robot would provide more rapid delivery of higher quality DNA sequencing results at lower cost to campus investigators. The quantitative PCR is requested to enable the provision of this as a new service to UCSF investigators, and to meet the considerable demand. This request is supported by 24 UCSF Principal Investigators with considerable, ongoing PHS/NIH grant support. The PIs represent 19 UCSF departments. The requested instruments would be truly shared resources. No single investigator, group of investigators or department would dominate their use.