diseases. The center has discovered the mechanism of action underlying the anti-inflammatory actions of Conjugated linoleic acid in inflammatory bowel disease, and the insulin sensitizing and anti-inflammatory effects of abscisic acid. Its Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens Program is applying high performance computing techniques to model and simulate human immunology systems and help immunologists conduct quick in silico experiments to narrow down experimental design, validate their hypotheses and save significant time and laboratory cost. This laboratory is also collaborating with the Center for Global Health at the University of Virginia, the Department of Gastroenterology and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other medical schools and leading several human clinical trials on safer therapies for inflammatory and immune mediated diseases. It has recently established a partnership with the Division of Gastroenterology at the Carilion Clinic to launch a joint translational research program in inflammatory bowel diseases. Core facilities and services The institute occupies more than on the Virginia Tech campus, including over of laboratory space, designed for flexibility and to house computing and laboratory facilities. The institute occupies in Alexandria, Virginia, as part of Virginia Tech National Capital Region. The institute's infrastructure includes core facilities that integrate high-throughput data generation and data analysis capabilities. The Core Computational Facility has three data centers occupying over , with over 250 servers totalling over 10.5 terabytes of random access memory, distributed over more than 2650 processor cores. It has a storage area network with over 1 petabyte of disk and 3 petabytes of tape, expandable to 50 petabytes. The Genomics Research Laboratory: has of laboratory space located at the institute's main building. It possesses state-of-the-art Roche GS-FLX, Illumina and Ion Torent genome sequencers. It includes the Affymetrix National Custom Array Center for custom microarray design, sample processing and analytical services The Data Analysis Core: offers Turnkey service to analyze -omics and other data from raw data in to manuscript ready figures and text out. It also provides Nexgen sequence assembly and annotation; microarray design, analysis and interpretation; mass spec data analysis; data QC; hypothesis generation; experimental design; statistical data analysis Education and outreach K–12 programs include "Kids' Tech University," (an educational research program for sparking interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines), the Climate Change Student Summit for teachers and students, and high school summer internships. Undergraduate Programs include Research Experiences for Undergraduates in microbiology and in systems