Welcome to the Cal Poly Pomona BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium Vector Core

In 2022, we established the BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium Vector Core at Cal Poly Pomona. We work in close collaboration with Drs. Timothy Shay and Viviana Gradinaru at Caltech, who design modified AAV to cross the blood-brain barrier and infect specific cell types in the brain. Through prior funding from the NIH BRAIN Initiative pilot project (U24 award) and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Funding, we established an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector core and also supported a training program for undergraduates in AAV biology. We make custom AAV custom preparations and also host a catalog of materials that have broadly useful capsid + cargo combinations. Please see the ordering tab to see what we have in stock and reach out to us if you would like custom AAVs produced for your laboratory.  

For more information on blood-brain barrier crossing AAVs please see both the Gradinaru laboratory and the CLOVER Center's Website. 

This project was supported by the NIH BRAIN initiative Award 1U24MH131054 (2022-25) and by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2025-2026).