The Biomedical Research Core Facilities (BRCF) at the Medical School offer state-of-the-art instruments, resources, and expertise to investigators at the U-M and beyond. Many of our biomedical cores are recognized nationally and internationally for enabling new research and developing novel techniques for their respective scientific fields. The Biomedical Research Core Facilities include:

• Advanced Genomics Core - the largest sequencing facility in the Midwest
• Bioinformatics Core - offers custom support in computational methods and algorithm development
• Biomedical Research Store - researchers can purchase thousands of products for their projects
• Epigenomics Core - prepares samples for analysis in epigenetic regulation
• Flow Cytometry Core - offers instrumentation, phenotypic analysis, cell sorting, and data analysis
• Metabolomics Core - offers state-of-the-art in-house metabolomics analysis tools
• Microscopy Core - offers high resolution microscopy, instruments, services, and data analysis
• Proteomics & Peptide Synthesis Core - provides custom sample prep and data interpretation
• Proteomics Resource Facility -  state of the art instruments, technical expertise, advanced informatics support
• Transgenic Animal Model Core - internationally recognized expertise in rodent models
• Vector Core - in-house viral and plasmid stocks are ready the next business day

For more information, visit the BRCF website.

Cores are centralized facilities or labs that offer shared services, shared equipment, resources and expertise to investigators and their teams on a fee-for-service basis. There are over 100 different cores supporting research across the University of Michigan. For more information, view the full list of Research Cores.

The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) offers many services related to participant recruitment. They can help you:

• Determine whether their engaged participant registry, UMHealthResearch.org is an appropriate recruitment tool for your study and, if it is, teach you how to maximize the potential of UMHealthResearch.org for your study.
• Develop and review recruitment materials, identifying obstacles that may affect participant recruitment for your study through a participant recruitment and retention consultation.

The Data Office for Clinical & Translational Research and the Central Biorepository partner to help researchers gain secure access to thousands of available biospecimens and 15 years of patient clinical data. The intersection of these two services can help accelerate more targeted research, increasing your opportunities for collaboration, funding, and publication.

Data access through the Data Office for Clinical & Translational Research:
The Data Offices offers multiple self-serve tools, or you can request a custom data extract from their experienced programmers.

Biospecimen access through the Central Biorepository:
The Central Biorepository can connect you with thousands of biosamples for your research. For more information, visit their Get Access page, or view a sampling of what is available visit their Inventory page.

Data Office for Clinical & Translational Research consultations provide information on available data tailored to your needs and a deep dive into all patient health data resources that are available. From support for your new funding proposal to informing your study design to crafting limited patient data searches, they offer consultations to help with all of your data requests.

Central Biorepository consultations connect you with experts who can help with guidance on consent, IRB applications, and distributions agreements, whether accessing or storing biosamples.

The MiChart Research Team assists with all aspects of the electronic medical record including recruitment, ordering, and tip sheets. The Team can help you with setting up recruitment alerts, order set development, study and reporting needs, and other ways to maximize patient records for research.

There are two main types of MiChart-Research access: View Only access (which allows users to view virtually everything in MiChart) and Study Coordinator access (which allows for users to write to patients’ charts in the form of a research note and to place orders). The easiest way to request any of the services provided is to submit a Service Request via ServiceNow or contact Health Information Technology & Services (HITS) at 734-936-8000.

The Central Biorepository serves as a central storage facility, point-of-research access, and administrative hub for research using biospecimens and data associated with or derived from them.

The repository is populated through partnerships with investigators, departments, centers, and institutes that are looking to create a resource for their own use, as well as sharing biomaterials and developing collaborative opportunities within the research enterprise at the University of Michigan and beyond.

Are you a clinician researcher considering options for storing your patient samples? Accredited by the College of American Pathologists, the Central Biorepository's expert staff can help you collect, manage, and protect your biospecimens using highly-automated processes and the highest-quality control. For more information, visit their Biobank page.