Core Research Facilities | Biomedical and Molecular Sciences | School of Medicine

Welcome to the Core Research Facilities Website!

Here you can access the shared research equipment housed within the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, which is available for use by all faculty, staff, and graduate students in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) for research and training purposes.

The Core Research Facilities consist of eight core divisions, each providing access to a unique set of instruments. These facilities are equipped to accommodate the diverse range of research projects available in our department.

The core facilities operate on a fee-for-use basis, which allows partial cost recovery for operating expenses and service contracts for the instruments. Booking is subject to availability, as there is high demand for this equipment.

Click on the images to view the equipment available under each core. The equipment can be booked online using the links provided under “Booking and Fees” under each equipment page.

Protein Biophysics

The Protein Biophysics Core Facility provides access and training to use well-maintained biophysics equipment. This equipment is used for characterizing the structure, dynamics, and interactions of proteins, which is crucial for understanding the basis of nearly every cellular function and disease.

Animal Imaging

The Animal Imaging Core Facility offers advanced Bio-Imaging and Ultrasound instrumentation. We offer equipment access and training, full sample analysis with experienced operators, and experimental troubleshooting and protocol design.

Molecular Biology

The Molecular Biology Core provides services and training, many of which are not usually available in individual laboratories. The equipment in this facility allows students and faculty to perform DNA sequencing, genotyping, and gene expression analyses for genomics and proteomics research, as well as single cell RNA-sequencing, single cell immune profiling, and single nuclear Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin (ATAC) sequencing experiments.

Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry allows for multi-parametric analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of cells at a high rate (over a thousand cells/second). With the help of our experienced personnel, users can analyze the expression of molecules on the cell surface or intracellularly, characterize heterogeneous cell populations, assess the purity of cell populations, and analyze cell viability.

Microscopy

The Microscopy Core is a multi-user facility that offers access to high-end light microscopy platforms for fluorescence-based multi-dimensional imaging and a suite of light microscopes for bright-field and fluorescence imaging. Equipment in this facility can be configured for live animal imaging, fixed or live cell imaging, single-molecule imaging, as well as real-time, quantitative live cell assays within a tissue culture incubator over extended time periods.

Plate Readers

A number of automated, benchtop readers are available that students and faculty can book and use to perform end-point or kinetic optical density, absorbance, luminescence and/or fluorescence measurements of samples in a microplate format, once properly trained by DBMS technical staff.

Gel and Blot Imagers

Self-service instruments are available for imaging of gels, blots, and membranes by trained users. Some of these instruments are equipped with infrared laser excitation for quantitative Western Blot Imaging in the near-infrared range and can be used for quantitative blot analysis.

Biomedical Image Analysis

We currently have 2 dual monitor image analysis packages, Image Pro Plus and Metamorph which are available for facility users. Both packages are extremely comprehensive in their image processing, measurement and statistics generation ability, and have many versatile analysis plug ins and inbuilt functions.