Faculty from across the University recently shared praise and recognition for the significant contributions Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) Core Facility Directors provide to research advancement at Cornell.  

“I am delighted and honored to be able to add my voice of recognition and admiration for the outstanding directors of the BRC core facilities, and their staff. In writing this I am wearing three hats. As a faculty member in Plant Biology/the School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS) my research program over more than two decades has depended on the expertise and commitment of the BRC core facility directors, and numerous students, postdocs and visiting scientists have been supported, trained and received advice through the core facility operations. That legacy and impact is enormous and has a global reach.

Wearing my second hat, in my previous incarnation as Director of the Biotech Institute, I had the privilege of working alongside the directors every day, and witnessing their incredible commitment, perseverance, creativity and leadership. Users of the facilities can see the amazing services and scientific acumen from ‘one side of the counter’ but are not aware of the equally impressive skill sets required to run what are effectively small businesses, on a budget with an enormous customer base, in the fast lane of technology evolution. This requires immense managerial, financial, interpersonal, strategic and diplomatic talents. In all those regards, I learned a great deal from you all. 

Lastly, in my current position as Director of SIPS, I’ve seen firsthand that the BRC core facilities are a major factor in our ability to recruit and retain faculty and students. We have hired six new faculty members in the last six months and every single one mentioned the BRC as a significant part of the decision-making process. Dear directors, you have collectively created an amazing and unique operation that is of profound importance for Cornell, and the life science community more broadly. I salute you and am extremely proud to have you as colleagues.”

~ Joss Rose, School of Integrative Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences 

“Jen Grenier and her team are fundamental to the research that we perform here in the Fuller Evolutionary Biology Lab. Over the years we have used the BRC genomics, TREX and GIH facilities for many projects. Jen is always available for consultations and advice, is encouraging and patient with all our questions and consistently provides valuable suggestions. I’m not sure how she has the time for it all! 

Jen has built a team who shares her passion for service to the community and their presence here on campus, their availability for meetings and their willingness to work with our sometimes exceedingly difficult samples is invaluable. We are especially grateful to Jen for the many ways in which she continues to help us make our research dollars go further, e.g. giving us access to shared lanes on high-capacity sequencing machines.  In short, we would not be half as productive or successful without Jen’s continued guidance and advice.”

~ Bronwyn Butcher, Lab of Ornithology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

"Becky Williams is a wealth of knowledge. She recently helped a student in my lab develop a tissue clearing protocol, which was super useful for numerous grant applications.  I’ve also been very impressed with Becky’s ability to acquire new instruments and keep the core up to date." 

~ Brian Rudd, Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine

“The core director of the Epigenomics Facility, Will Lai, has been very flexible in handling large and small projects, and being able to handle mid-stream changes to samples. Turnaround has been fantastic and of the highest professional quality.”

~ Frank Pugh, Molecular Biology and Genetics, College of Arts and Sciences

“Sheng Zhang has been a phenomenal help in our work on insect proteomics.  He is knowledgeable and could readily explain the options available for our different projects (one completed, and one is being planned).  Once our samples were prepared, we dropped them off and the analysis went smoothly.  Sheng worked with a postdoc in my lab on the analysis which went smoothly, the results were published and opened new areas of investigation. As a member of Proteomics Advisory Board, I know firsthand many of the challenges Sheng faces, and the difficulties of running a core.  His hard work and ability to work with a diverse group of clients is an enormous benefit to Cornell."

~ Jeff Scott, Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

“Jen Grenier has done an amazing job of reorganizing the Genomics Core Facility and is a major asset to the research community at Cornell.  She always makes herself available to provide feedback and guidance and has been instrumental for numerous sequencing projects completed in my lab.”

~ Brian Rudd, Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine

"Jarek Pillardy, Qi Sun, and the Bioinformatics core facility have been instrumental in planning data collection strategies for multi-omics and spatial data across several complex systems, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hemangiosarcoma. Their guidance has significantly enhanced the quality and efficiency of our data collection, greatly benefiting our research efforts."

~ Charles Danko, Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine