Relatório Anual 2010 - Fundação Champalimaud

information sharing and the external website. In 2010 all web-based servicespreviously hosted onsite have been migrated to Amazon Web Services, whichprovides robust, virtualized servers. We also added a web-based help deskrequest tracking application to handle the needs of the IT platform, the newscientific platforms and move related requests.Finally, a significant amount of effort in the second half of 2010 was devotedto planning and preparing for the migration of the CNP IT infrastructure toits new location and to accommodate the changing services and additionaldemands that will be created during that process.Gene Expression PlatformCoordinatorSusana LimaStaffTatiana Vassilevskaia (Virus Production)The Gene Expression unit was established in 2009 with the purpose ofdeveloping and producing genetic tools to manipulate the activity of neuralcircuits and making them more accessible to research teams. Ultimately,the goal is to offer the community a collection of different options in terms ofdelivery system (viral, electroporation, etc), expression pattern and specificity(for example, different cell type specific promoters) and expressible genes(light gated channels, RNA interference, etc).Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) are an effective method ofdelivering genes to the mammalian neurvous system and have been theinitial focus of the unit since its establishment in April. Several batches ofrAAVs have been produced at mini-scale and successfully tested in vitro andtwo medium scale productions are being currently tested in vivo studies.Administrative Support ServicesCoordinatorZachary MainenStaffTeresa Carona (Projects manager)Raquel Gonçalves (Programme Administrator)Alexandra Piedade (Meetings and Courses Administrator)Deborah Rocha (Projects Coordinator)FC Relatório Anual 2010 40