Mitochondrial Aging Promotes Inflammation

Dr. Bharath will ship cell culture supernatants from stimulated cells to Dr. Nikolajczyk’s lab for a bioplex cytokine assay by Dr. Zhu, a staff scientist in the Nikolajczyk lab. The assay quantifies dozens of cytokines produced in human peripheral immune cells. The measurement of the cytokines in the cell culture supernatant is important for understanding inflammation in aging and the effects of experimental manipulation on this outcome. Dr. Bharath’s lab is unable to perform this assay in Merrimack College as the college does not have the expensive equipment required to run the assay. As Dr. Nikolajczyk’s lab has optimized the experimental conditions for this type of assay on their instrument, and analysis thereafter; therefore, troubleshooting efforts will be minimal, making it a cost-effective option for Dr. Bharath and her student researchers.