The CBC is a cutting-edge hybrid service and research facility operated by highly trained specialists within six core facilities distributed across the Illinois campus. These laboratories provide critical infrastructure for analyses that include genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics, flow cytometry, and spatial transcriptomics. Especially important is CBC’s assistance to investigators to determine the latest and most effective biotechnology analyses for their projects, write and develop grants, provide letters of support, complete analyses, contribute to interpretations, develop text and figures for publications and grants, identify funding opportunities and actively engage in faculty recruiting and retention. In 2008, a crucial investment from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust resulted in naming of the CBC and incorporation of high-throughput sequencing platforms ( https://www.carvertrust.org/ ).

CBC laboratories include the DNA Services Laboratory (DSL), Cytometry and Microscopy to Omics (CMtO), Functional Genomics, Metabolomics, Proteomics, and High-Performance Computing Bioinformatics (HPCBio). DSL provides genome and transcriptome sequencing and has extensive expertise in de novo genome assembly, gene expression analysis (RNA-seq), single-cell multiomics, spatial transcriptomics, small RNA, epigenomics, metagenomics, and custom applications. CMtO couples flow cytometry with laser scanning microscopy with genomics and proteomics to provide in-depth spatial gene and protein analyses at resolutions of 200 nm to 50 mm. Functional Genomics creates amplicon libraries for microbiome analysis, quantitative PCR for gene expression or microbial abundance assays, and genotyping analysis exploiting multiple SNP panels simultaneously. Metabolomics identifies and quantifies small molecules (metabolites) from a variety of origins such as biological tissue, blood, serum, plasma, cell, cell medium, urine, feces, among others. Proteomics a spectrum of intact and fragmented protein characterization services including customized sample preparation, protein identification, detection of post-translational modifications, isotopic label based and label-free quantitation. And finally, HCPBio offers a diverse range of computational and statistical analytical techniques for processing high throughput omics data for a broad range of data types, and experimental designs.