Pitt Research

Our mission is to provide centralized support that enhances the ability of Pitt’s Shared Research Core Facilities to perform transformational research.

Types of Shared Research Core Facilities

A shared Research Core Facility (an “RCF”):

• Houses one or more devices, instruments, special services;
• Occupies a shared physical or virtual space;
• Services multiple groups of researchers;
• Has an operating/governance model; and
• Has a business/cost model

Many Pitt facilities meet this definition, so we differentiate a level 1 (L1) RCF from level 2 (L2) RCF.  An L1RCF is supported by the office of the senior vice chancellor for research, is of large physical or virtual scale, is used daily by many research groups inside and outside of Pitt, and is governed by a Faculty Director and a Facility Manager.  An L2RCF is supported by other means (e.g., by a school or a department), is of smaller scale, is used by two or more research groups, and is typically governed by just a Faculty Director. 

Who We Are

The Vice Chancellor for Research Infrastructure, Robert Cunningham, working with Directors of Shared Research Support Services across Pitt, is responsible for helping build resources for research core facilities. 

Each L1RCF is supported by two key people: 

• A ‘Faculty Director’ is a tenure-line faculty member whose primary responsibility is research and/or teaching but who provides oversight to a core facility.   The Faculty Director provides strategic direction for the facility and helps identify new equipment of interest to faculty members.
• A ‘Facility Director’ is the individual whose primary job function is day-to-day management and supervision of a core facility.   The Facility Director prepares the annual report, conducts meetings with facility staff, and arranges to maintain and replace equipment.

Two committees coordinate university efforts, each with a different set of responsibilities and membership.

The L1RCF Review Panel consists of Facility Directors and shared research directors, is focused on improving existing facilities and supporting leadership at those facilities.  It has the responsibility of reviewing capital proposals and selecting winning proposals each year.  Decisions will be based on how well a new piece of equipment supports new research, training, and collaboration, among other metrics.

The L1RCF University Advisory Committee consists of Faculty Directors and Assistant or Associate Deans of Research and is focused on improving intra-university large-scale science and collaborations.  It reviews the results of annual surveys and annual reports developed by facility managers to share best practices, identify potential improvements to existing facilities, develop new collaborations to pursue sources of funding, and to admit new facilities or to end support for existing facilities that no longer meet membership criteria.  It will also coach new applicants on how to improve proposals to increase the likelihood of acceptance.

We are working towards a single centralized Pitt/iLab portal to assist researchers in acquiring shared university resources. This system includes some of our core facilities from the upper campus, the lower campus, and Hillman Cancer Center.   

Plans and Opportunities: Over time, we aim to bring all shared cores into this portal.  If you are the director of a shared research facility and are ready to transition to this centralized system, please look at the section entitled  “Migrating to Pitt’s Core Connector”. 

Grants and Publications: The use of data generated in a core facility in a grant application, progress report or publication requires that the principal investigator or authors acknowledge the core facility. Many core facilities are supported by federal agencies, and acknowledgement is tracked for mandatory progress reporting and continued support. We use Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) to assist with this tracking. See our citation guideline for recommended text and commonly used RRIDs.   

Authorship: If core personnel provide significant intellectual input to the results submitted for publication, then it is reasonable and appropriate to include them as co-authors. Since circumstances vary greatly, the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities provides excellent and detailed recommended guidelines. 

How to Register in iLab 

University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Investigators 

To use iLab Core Facilities Management, registration for an iLab account is required.   

1. Go to the Pitt/iLab Portal, select “register”, and log in with your Pitt ID. 
2. Upon successful authentication, you will be prompted to enter your name and select your principal investigator from a drop-down menu. 
3. Submit the completed registration request. Your submission will automatically notify the principal investigator and/or manager of your lab membership request. The principal investigator or manager will have to log on to iLab and approve your request. 
4. Once approved, you will need to have your principal investigator or manager assign you to specific charge number(s) to use when requesting services. 
5. Contact our team of iLab Project Managers. 

Other Investigators 

To order services from our core facilities, external customers need to register for an account. This is a one-time setup procedure; external customers can reuse the same account number for future billings and multiple P/Os.  

1. To register for an external customer account, go to the Pitt/iLab Portal.  
2. Complete and submit the registration form. 
3. We will set up your external customer account details. 
4. You will receive an email from welcome@ilabsolutions.com with the login (email address) and password (iLab generated).

Part of our mission statement is to support quality research by providing access to the most updated technology and equipment in the field.  

Migrating to Pitt’s Core Connector

Existing shared research core facilities are encouraged to transition their management software to the supported package, iLab.  The Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research will pay all licensing fees for the software and will provide support from the office and the vendor to ensure a smooth transition.

 Pitt’s iLab instantiation is integrated into our single sign on system and our billing backends.  It has support for tracking training, and for lockouts that point users who want to use specialized equipment to training modules before they can sign up for a system.  Setting this up requires some training; we’ll work with you to both develop an initial configuration that works for your facility, and will show you how to modify this as new training and new equipment come into your facility.

We recognize that different RCFs have different busy seasons and will work with you to schedule a transition at a time that works best for your facility.  Email rcf@pitt.edu with the subject “RCF Transition Request” to plan your transition.

Questions and Connections for RCF Leadership

A significant benefit of establish a university-wide standard for RCF management software is the establishment of a cohort of facility directors and faculty directors.

New and existing facilities directors that are using the common system can be reached for help and pointers at rcf-facility-directors@pitt.edu.

New and existing faculty directors that are using the common system can be reached for help and pointers at rcf-faculty-directors@pitt.edu. 

New and existing individual faculty members may also need help adding their students, managing budgets, and approving requests.  PIs that use RCFs can be reached at rcf-pis@pitt.edu.

Core Training 

Information to come

Reviewing Facility Charges 

Information to come 

Establishing and Maintaining a Level 1 Research Core Facility

Level 1 Research Core Facilities (L1RCF) receive support in exchange for performing several activities.  Level 1 and Level 2 facilities are described on the about page.

L1RCFs must be officially authorized and enrolled in campus-level RCF management and cannot unilaterally declare themselves to be such.  Authorized cores have both obligations to meet (e.g., annual reporting and user tracking), and privileges to enjoy (e.g., a common IT platform to track usage, access to a central capital funding mechanism for upgrades and equipment replacement).

L1RCFs must follow common best practices, including:

• Common IT Platform: The best-run cores employ a common commercial IT platform that tracks usage on a per-instrument or per-service basis, and bills users’ award accounts for per-use fees.  This offers many advantages.  First, accurate tracking of equipment use, which is essential to understand how extensively instrument are being used, and how these are advancing toward necessary maintenance activities or end-of-life.   Also, some federal sponsors require granular accounting of how awarded instruments have been utilized / cited in subsequent research publications (e.g., NIH S10 instrumentation proposals).  We have selected iLab. 
• Leadership Training: The best-run cores also offer management training to the management teams running each top-tier core, so that these scientists have some formal education in the realities of budgets, business, and finance.  Pitt’s Katz Business school will offer a course to improve the skills of Facility and Faculty directors.  Curriculum includes: Leadership; Dealing with difficult people; Writing an Annual Report; Measures of performance and effectiveness for a business. 
• Annual Planning Cycle: Pitt will employ an annual calendar for authorized L1RCFs, which involves an annual report for existing cores, an application-period for aspiring cores, and a capital request period for regular improvement/additions (outside of the usual “emergency needs” landscape) funded from a central capital facility.  This planning cycle provides clarity of “what, when, how” for review and capital planning. 

Criteria for a Successful L1 RCF 

An L1RCF is deemed successful on its ability to support the following:

• Research – Facility demonstrates ability to enable scientific advances;
• Training – Trainees efficiently learn to use equipment and run experiments or acquire services that produce results; and
• Collaboration – Enable unique interdisciplinary research. 

Facilities that no longer provide broad support for one or more of those areas will no longer be able to be a L1RCF.  Facilities that duplicate functionality available elsewhere on campus or in Pittsburgh will be carefully reviewed for need.

The senior vice chancellor for research sets aside funding to cover some L1RCF activities, including purchasing licenses for iLab software required to run facilities. Training is also available for those in L1RCF leadership positions.

Annual Calendar for Pitt RCFs: