The McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research is centrally located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The McArdle facility contains approximately 59,000 sq.ft. of space devoted to its research, teaching, and administrative functions. The research laboratories and staff offices are located on floors 2-8. Service facilities are located in the basement (one-half floor), and on the 1st, 8th, 9th, and 10th floors. The 11th floor contains a small seminar room, two conference rooms, and office space for Emeritus faculty.
The Laboratory is well equipped for our research needs, and during the past 5-10 years we have undertaken an extensive program to renovate the research facilities at the McArdle Laboratory. We have modernized approximately 17,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space (over half of the net research space). In addition to providing us with facilities better suited to our current research methods, this modernization allowed us to relocate in the building some research groups to enhance opportunities for scientific interactions.
The research laboratories of the faculty occupy approximately 32,000 square feet, with an additional 2,500 square feet of space provided for shared instrument rooms and cold rooms on each research floor. Our ability to do research is enhanced greatly by the availability of a large number of well-run shared service or core facilities that occupy a total of approximately 7,500 square feet. These service facilities include: an animal care facility, a BL-3 biocontainment facility, a darkroom, a flow cytometry facility, a glassware washing and sterilizing facility, a histotechnology laboratory, a phosphorimager, an irradiation facility, a radioactive isotope counting facility, a reading room, a storeroom/receiving room, and a computer network. These facilities/services are described briefly below. In addition, the building contains a lecture room, a small seminar room, and four conference rooms.
The Biosafety Level 3 (BL3) Maximum Containment Laboratory comprises four modules of space on the ninth floor of the McArdle Laboratory. This BL3 facility was designed in accordance with guidelines from CDC and NIH (HHS Publication #CDC 88-8395, Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories). This facility has special engineering and containment features that allow investigators to work safely with known or possible human pathogens such as human immunodeficiency, hepatitis B, human papilloma, and simian immunodeficiency viruses. This is a shared-use facility and was constructed using a Research Facility Improvement Grant from the NIH.
Prior to using the BL3 laboratory, individuals are trained in the correct and safe use of the facility. A laboratory supervisor, Donal Kaehler (supported in part by the Cancer Center Support Grant to the UWCCC), monitors the day-to-day operation to insure that all workers are following BL3 guidelines. Mr. Kaehler directly instructs individuals in correct safety procedures prior to the start of their experiments in the BL3 laboratory and is available to answer questions should they arise. Experimental protocols are reviewed to insure maximum safety of all planned experiments.
Personal computers in the Department are linked to the Internet, UW Campus Ethernet, and to a departmental network server. Tim Anderson (tranderson@oncology.wisc.edu), room 1022 McArdle, is responsible for the departmental network. (Please note that UW-Madison has an Electronic Devices Policy that requires all campus users to run anti-virus software, keep security patches updated and, whenever possible, maintain a dedicated firewall. Please see the Division of Information Technology website for more information.)
The darkroom is located on the eighth floor of the McArdle Laboratory. It is equipped with a Biorad Gel Camera System, a Gel Doc XR PC Multicolor Fluorescent Imaging System, a Fotodyne Polaroid Camera, a Panasonic Camera, a Fotodyne Digital Imaging system, and a Storm analyzer that quantifies fluorescent samples. The darkroom is also equipped with an automated Film Processor for X-ray developing and a manual developing station for the same.
Facility Manager: Kathleen Schell
McArdle Supervisor: Joel Puchalski
The Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Facility provides the instrumentation for the rapid measurement of molecules in or on single cells with the use of multiple light sources and fluorescent compounds. Currently the McArdle facility, located on the first floor of the Laboratory, is equipped with one Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur [containing two air cooled lasers (488nM, 633nM); 4-color capability] for analysis and one Becton Dickinson FACSVantage SE with FACSDiVa digital upgrade [containing 3 lasers: Argon tunable laser (488nM, 514nm, 457nM, UV), Krypton tunable laser (UV, 405nM, 413nM, 568nM, 647nM), and a 633nM HeNe; 9-color capability] for sorting and/or analysis applications. Please visit the Flow Facility’s website at http://www.cancer.wisc.edu/uwccc/services_flow.asp for more information regarding equipment, capabilities, how to use the facility, and many other resources.
All glassware washing and autoclaving for McArdle investigators is performed in this facility. Materials are picked up from the laboratories, washed and/or autoclaved in the first-floor facility, and returned to the laboratories. Washing and autoclaving procedures are established specially for each research group.
The McArdle histotechnology laboratory (rooms B9/B13), under the supervision of Dr. Henry C. Pitot, is equipped to perform a wide range of services. The work performed includes the preparation of histological sections from both paraffin-embedded and cryostat material, histochemical staining (for gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, glucose-6-phosphatase, ATPase, etc.), special stains (such as PAS, Giemsa, iron), and special procedures (autoradiography, immunohistochemistry, block preparations of cell pellets or embryoid bodies, in situ staining, and histochemistry and autoradiography of cell cultures).
A cesium irradiator (J. L. Sheppard Mark I unit), housed in B23 McArdle, is suitable for irradiation of both cell cultures and small animals. All users must have trustworthy and reliability statements completed by their principal investigators and attend an instructional course to be certified to use the facility. Contact the UW Safety Department, 30 N. Murray Street, Madison, WI 53715; Telephone: (608) 262-8769 for information about the course.
The Radioactive Isotope Counting Facility, located in the basement (room B25) of the McArdle Laboratory, is equipped with a scintillation counter. All quantitative measurements of radioactive isotopes are carried out in this facility by the researcher. Researchers may then leave their samples for disposal.
The Macromolecular Analysis Facility, located on the fifth floor of the McArdle Laboratory, provides researchers with the latest equipment for quantifying proteins and nucleic acids. A Phosphorimager quantifies radioactivity in blots and gels. The facility has MegaBace 1000’s for high throughput DNA sequencing and a Biopic Colony selector. Experimental results are sent over the network to computers in individual labs and imported into programs designed for making slides or images for publication.
Located on the second floor of McArdle (room 206) there is a 7700 and 7900HT Sequence Detection System; it is used for high throughput detection of fluorescent PCR-related chemistries. There is also an Agilent Microarray Scanner System, which measures fluorescent labeled nucleic acids for study of differential gene expression. Room 206 also has an Apogent MicroGrid microarray printer for making researcher’s microarrays and an IQ single color RT-PCR machine (BioRad iCycler).The departmental reading room, located on the tenth floor of the McArdle Laboratory and 1,000 square feet in size, houses a noncirculating research literature collection available to McArdle researchers at all times. Xeroxing facilities permit copying of material essential for the laboratory, preserving the noncirculating character of this collection. The reading room subscribes to major cancer research, cell biology, biochemistry, and biology journals; material not available in the reading room can be found in either the Agricultural and Life Sciences Library (Steenbock) or the Chemistry Library - both on the campus within a 500-yard radius of McArdle. The Ebling Library in the Health Sciences Learning Center is located approximately one mile from McArdle.
The Department of Oncology's Safety and Biohazard Committee educates staff and students with respect to safe work practices, monitors storage and disposal of hazardous materials, and coordinates equipment re- certifications and radiation monitoring with the UW Safety Department. All new employees are required to read the booklet "Safety Practices and Precautions at the McArdle Laboratory" and attend a one-hour safety class.
The Storeroom (room 110) provides a centralized location for commonly used chemicals, glassware, and other supplies. Storeroom personnel register and transfer to the individual research groups all orders from outside vendors. Storeroom items are charged out to individual research groups.
