Research Support Services

Experts in business development and technology transfer work with faculty to identify possible commercialization and spin-out opportunities. They raise awareness by networking with potential external collaborators, namely venture capital, biotechnology, and biopharmaceutical firms. Many JAX faculty members are currently collaborating with industrial partners on a variety of research and pre-clinical projects.

Clinical and Translational Research Support (CTRS) provides oversight and assistance with research involving human subjects, specimens, or data. They provide guidance and specialized knowledge at all stages of human subject research, including laying the groundwork for new proposals, assisting investigators with designing and developing protocols, facilitating studies and clinical trials, and navigating the administrative and regulatory landscape.

Communications and Marketing promotes JAX research news and information to a variety of audiences to showcase JAX’s mission and impact. The team’s communications expertise includes scientific communications, public relations, internal communications, social media, and crisis communications. The team's multimedia expertise includes graphic design, photo and video production, scientific illustration and printing. For marketing and digital presence, the team specializes in campaign development, web development and user experience design, and vendor collaboration for services and software platforms.

Computational Sciences works collaboratively with JAX investigators to apply advanced computational and analytical approaches to complex, data-intensive biological problems. They develop scientific software applications that facilitate access, visualization, and sharing of data and algorithms with the scientific community. With a staff that includes over 60 personnel (more than half Ph.D. level), they offer deep expertise in statistical genetics, biostatistics, immuno-informatics, systems biology, bulk and single-cell sequencing and analysis, spatial transcriptomics, image analysis, metabolomics/proteomics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and integrative cross-species analysis. This work is coupled with professional software engineering, quality assurance, interface design, data management and data visualization.

The Environmental Health, and Safety Services (EHSS) department offers consultation in all aspects of environmental, health, and safety in faculty labs and the entire JAX workplace.

JAX Genomic Education (JAX GE) develops and sustains high-quality experiential in-person and digital learning experiences. The Courses and Workshops team partners with JAX and external faculty to deliver innovative research learning experiences primarily for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. JAX GE develops and writes education and training grants in partnership with JAX faculty. Through funding from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and others, as well as academic partnerships with Tufts University, The University of Maine, University of Connecticut and UConn Health, and Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, JAX GE’s in-person, virtual and online education programs reach learners across the U.S. and the globe.

The JAX Global Security Services Team is comprised of over 30 team members with the shared goal of providing a safe working environment for all JAX employees. They work to ensure the safety and security of JAX’s people, places, and assets. Their services include but are not limited to emergency operations and crisis management, travel security assistance, foreign research compliance, crime prevention and investigations, 24/7 Security Operations Center support, and training.

The JAX Human Resources (HR) Department provides an array of services to faculty and their staff, including supporting talent acquisition, advancement opportunities, benefits, support and guidance on performance concerns, HR policies and procedures, professional development, immigration and more. The Talent Acquisition Team provides specialized support to JAX faculty as they work to build their lab program with superior talent.

Leading-edge biomedical research and medicine rest on a foundation of modern information technology systems and services. Whether it is the communication tools on desks and in pockets that speed collaboration, the compute clusters that assemble genomes, the enterprise systems that manage finances and help organize and deliver millions of research animals, or the servers that establish the JAX digital identity around the globe, the staff of the Information Technology department are focused on providing the highest quality technology and service across the JAX organization and to collaborators and customers around the world.

Research Information Technology (RIT) is a key resource within the Information Technology department with the mission of accelerating discovery at JAX by providing state-of-the-art information technology platforms that enable the acquisition, storage, processing, and analysis of scientific data.

Funding for innovative pilot research projects as well as expansion and development of scientific service offerings is available to JAX faculty through the Director’s Innovation Fund and Scientific Services Innovation Fund. Launched in 2013 and 2015, respectively, research enabled by these competitive Innovation Fund programs has led to numerous high-impact publications and has provided preliminary data and compelling aims for successful NIH grant applications, including center grants.

As one of the leading suppliers of laboratory mice in the world, JMCRS provides access to diverse mouse strains for studying a wide range of human diseases. Biospecimens, including tissue from aged mice, are available, as are mouse embryos and mouse embryonic stem cells. They provide support for specialized study design for specific therapeutic areas of focus. JAX faculty are offered animals at cost, offered surplus mouse orders, and offered JMCRS services (e.g., Genetic Engineering Technology, Necropsy and Pathology, Transgenic Genotyping, Reproductive Sciences, and Clinical Genomics) at cost.

JAX Legal provides legal support across JAX, including faculty and scientists. The Legal Department provides guidance on research and commercial agreements, licensing, and collaborations with other organizations. They also work to advance and protect JAX intellectual property rights by providing counsel on regulatory and compliance matters, and to advance JAX’s interests in disputes and interactions with regulatory authorities.

Research Program Development (RPD) works to support, strengthen, and grow the research enterprise at JAX. They work to promote faculty success and increase institutional competitiveness for extramural funding through a range of services that include proposal development, grants project management, funding strategy, and related research development services. While RPD can assist investigators at any step in the development of a funding strategy, from identifying funding sources to developing project concepts through to all steps of proposal development, they work best when they are involved early and iteratively, helping faculty craft their idea and target it most effectively to the funding source.

The explosion of scientific technologies and methods in recent years stimulated JAX to set up centralized platforms covering a broad spectrum of existing biomedical instruments and techniques that continually adapt to stay abreast of the most current technologies. JAX faculty have access to an extensive set of shared institutional resources and instruments. These shared research support programs are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and staffed with highly skilled personnel.

The vast array of services accessible to faculty on both campuses include Cellular Engineering, a Center for Biometric Analysis, Flow Cytometry, Genome Technologies, Histopathology Sciences, Library Sciences, Microscopy, Xenograft and Live Imaging Services, Protein Sciences, Scientific Instrument Services and Single Cell Biology. The internal service fees offered to JAX faculty provide substantially discounted rates that are heavily subsidized to reduce costs to faculty.

Sponsored Research Administration (SRA) is the designated pre-award and post-award administration office for JAX. Their overarching mission is to provide grant administration leadership, expertise, and comprehensive support to JAX’s research community and to ensure compliance with relevant regulations, from application through close-out. The SRA team assists JAX faculty and other research staff to obtain sponsored research funding, facilitates the submission of all sponsored projects proposals on behalf of JAX, negotiates and executes agreements, and assists Principal Investigators in the administration of externally sponsored research and internal awards.