Progress in biomedical research is largely driven by improvements, innovations, and breakthroughs in technology, an increasingly complex collaboration among basic, preclinical, and clinical science. Unfortunately, this increasing sophistication correlates with both growing research costs and a shrinking federal research budget. Taken together, it makes a strong argument for investing in core facilities. Cores are not new, having been a part of the research landscape for decades. Cores leverage expertise and state-of-the-art technology in centralized facilities and support institutional research in a cost-effective and efficient manner. There is a growing recognition that centralized administration of cores ensures best practices for institutional investment, financial and resource management, and core scientist professional and career development. Centralization maximizes institutional research capabilities by providing state-of-the-art instrumentation and multidisciplinary expertise for the entire research community, establishing a culture of collaboration integrated and aligned with institutional strategic goals and success in a highly competitive playground. However, to be successful, cores requires funding agencies and partners who identify opportunities and provide financial support, scientists who embrace team science, core scientists who personify the ethos of collaborative sharing, and committed institutions and policies that make it happen.
This issue of the Journal of Biomolecular Techniques is devoted to the business of cores, from developing performance standards and metrics for evaluating core performance to implementing product lifecycle management for core operation improvement, all while creating disaster response and business continuity plans. We thank Ron Orlando, JBT Editor-in-Chief, and the ABRF Executive Board for supporting this special issue of JBT. It is our hope that readers will find these articles useful for developing approaches that will benefit their cores and institutions.