The Center for Protease Research Core Biology Facility (CBF) was created in 2003 to aid in the in vitro testing of inhibitors of matrix metalloproteases and histone deacetylases. Since its inception, CBF has served as a biomedical research center for a wide variety of research projects on NDSU campus and throughout the region, and become a hub for connecting scientists for collaboration.

CBF provides state-of-the-art equipment and technical support for biomedical research. CBF houses a Molecular Biology Lab and a Tissue Culture Lab. CBF is equipped with Accuri C6 flow cytometers, BD FACSJazz cell sorter, 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR machines, fluorescence/absorbance/bioluminescence microplate reader, iBright FL1500, Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer, thermocyclers, fluorescence microscope with digital color camera, and NanoDrop spectrophotometer, in addition to basic tissue and cell culture instrumentation.

CBF provides services at four levels: consultation and experimental design, training clients to use instruments by themselves, running experiments for clients and data analysis, and collaboration.

Dr. Mukund P. Sibi, Professor, is the director of the facility. He is a North Dakota State University Distinguished Professor and a James A. Meier Professor. Dr. Sibi has a wide range of synthetic expertise. His group has developed novel methods for the preparation of succinates, a common structural motif found in known MMP inhibitors. He also has made extensive contributions to the field of amino acid chemistry, radical chemistry and Chiral Lewis acid-mediated reactions.