BMBCB reseachers have direct access to the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the nearby Argonne National Laboratory through a Northwestern University beamline at this synchrotron, the most powerful X-ray source in the world.

The Analytical Services Laboratory is a shared facility providing access to most types of chemical analysis instrumentation. It is found in room KG80 of the Tech Institute. NMR spectrometers, mass spectrometers, optical spectrometers, elemental analysis instruments, chromatography instruments, thermal analysis equipment, and X-ray diffractometers are found in this lab. The facility is staffed between 9AM and 5PM weekdays. Samples may be submitted to the staff for analysis or you may run them by yourself after appropriate training.

The Bioinformatics Core provides training and application support for lab research, model organism studies, and clinical trials. As a discipline-based center, the bioinformatics activities.

The Biological Imaging Facility (BIF) is a 1200 square-foot shared use facility located on the fifth floor of Hogan Hall on the Evanston Campus of Northwestern University. Supported by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Departments of Neurobiology and Physiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology, and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, BIF is a research and training facility that serves the imaging needs of life scientists.

Day-to-day management and maintenance of BIF instruments is handled by a Ph.D.-level manger. BIF houses a variety of instruments used in specimen preparation, image acquisition, image processing, and output for photonic and electron microscopic imaging. Training is provided to new users, from both within and outside the Northwestern University community, free of charge. Three training sessions are required for a user to be approved for use of any microscopy or computer equipment administered by BIF. Training is offered biweekly.

For information contact the BIF Manager, Dr. William A. Russin at (847) 491-6657 or w-russin@northwestern.edu.

The Biostatistics Core Facility serves the needs of the cancer researchers within the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. In particular, members of the Biostatistics Core Facility provide advice in matters of design, power analysis, statistical analysis, and presentation of outcomes in clinical trials. The Biostatistics Core Facility's mission is to excel in the biostatistical, epidemiologic, and methodologic issues related to clinical trials and to advocate proper use of statistics, data monitoring and data analysis in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and its affiliates.

The Cell Imaging Facility is located on the seventh floor of the Ward Building at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Covering a 9-room suite of 1,300 sq. ft (Ward 7-143 to 7-165), the Cell Imaging Facility provides state-of-the-art light and electron microscopic instruments and consultation to researchers at the Medical School, the Evanston main campus, as well as to users at Children's Memorial Institute for Education and Research (CMIER).

The facility staff members are committed to provide consultation for experimental designs involving cell imaging, the choice of instrument, instrumental training, sample and control preparation, image analysis, as well as exploring and expanding the use of cutting edge imaging instruments and techniques. Please explore the capability of various key instruments on this webpage.

The Cell Imaging Facility is now actively organizing numerous workshops to keep the NU users abreast of the current imaging techniques. Please make sure you are aware of these great opportunities to learn more about image acquisition and analysis methodology by checking on the "workshop" link above.

The Center for Cell and Developmental Biology is a collaborative effort to promote the sharing of research facilities and investigative initiatives within the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology and the Department of Neurobiology and Physiology. The scientists and students within the Center explore the pathways and mechanisms used by single cells to function and interact with their environments and investigate how cells develop and communicate to form entire organisms. The Center serves as a hub to organize and publicize the strengths of these researchers and their students.

The Center for Reproductive Science coordinates the research and training efforts of 30 faculty in 11 different departments, with the dual missions of enhancing research in reproductive biology and its applications to human welfare, and of optimizing the training of future research and testing scientists in the broad area of reproductive biology.

The Center for Structural Biology combines research laboratories and facilities in structural biology to maximize the efficient use of large and expensive equipment such as a 600 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility and X-ray generators and detectors. A major strength of the Center is its proximity to the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory. Northwestern University operates a beamline at this synchrotron, which provides BMBCB structural biologists with direct access to the most powerful X-ray source in the world.

The Clinical Research Office provides a centralized resource to facilitate the development, conduct, quality assurance monitoring, compliance with regulatory agency requirements, and evaluation of clinical research and trials at the Cancer Center.

The Department of Neurobiology and Physiology was created in 1980 to take advantage of the affinity and common research interests of a strong group of faculty members. Since its inception, the department has grown to include a diverse array of active research areas including biological rhythms, cellular electrophysiology, development, imaging, learning & memory, molecular neurobiology, reproductive biology, and sensory systems. The department is thirty-five faculty members strong and includes over 70 postdocs, research staff, and graduate student members. For those wishing to pursue graduate studies, NBP offers a one-year Master's program and is a member of the Ph.D.-granting Northwestern University Institute for Neuroscience (NUIN).

DND-CAT has formulated a broad research program which takes advantage of 3rd generation synchrotron radiation sources. Although many fields of materials science and engineering are represented in this research program, the scientific thrust of our CAT is concentrated in two main areas: The study of two dimensional or quasi-two dimensional atomic structures (surfaces, interfaces and thin films) and polymer science and technology. Both are areas of immense technological importance, and will benefit greatly from the increased brilliance of the APS. Many crucial elements of this research program are beyond current capabilities.

The Flow Cytometry Facility provides comprehensive flow cytometry and cell sorting services, including guidance, technical assistance, and equipment for investigators to utilize more complex multi-parametric, multi-laser measurements as well as cell sorting in their research.

The High Throughput Analysis Lab provides academic, industrial, and private researchers with equipment and expertise for the development and execution of high throughput biological analysis and screening.

The Immunoassay Core Facility serves the research community by providing customized assay services and provides a central resource for measurement of hormones, growth factors, and other ligands in biological fluids.

The J.B. Cohen X-Ray Diffraction Facility includes 10 standard X-ray generators, four rotating anode units, and a variety of goniometers. Also available are three small-angle units, an EXAFS unit, topographic units, and equipment for work with single crystals or powders (from 2 K to 2,500 K). These units are operated from one of the many microprocessors with UNIX-based Sun workstations, part of a time-share system in the laboratory. The laboratory staff is part of a Midwest team operating a beam line at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s high-intensity synchrotron X-ray facility, which Northwestern students may also use. It is also part of a beam line sector at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

The Keck Biophysics Facility, housed in the Center for Structural Biology, is an internationally unique resource for the study of the structures and interactions of biological and synthetic macromolecules. This shared research center provides access to state-of-the-art equipment, including spectroscopy, analytical and non-commerical instruments. It was created by Northwestern University's Center for Structural Biology with grants from the W.M.Keck Foundation and additional support from NIH, the Rice Foundation, and the Robert H.Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Keck Interdisciplinary Surface Science Center (formerly Keck Center for the Characterization of Nanoscale Soft Materials) has been relocated to 1149, Cook Hall on the Evanston Campus. Currently, there are three cutting-edge instruments: Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS/ESCA), and Ultra-high Vacuum Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Atomic Force Microscopy (UHV STM/AFM). The ToF-SIMS has a high resolution separation of complex elemental and molecular surface species and it has several attractive features such as chemical imaging and line-scanning, combined topography imaging (SEM), as well as ultra-think depth profiling. The XPS is equipped with an electron flood gun and a scanning ion gun, which are capable of analyzing the elemental composition and the chemical status of both organic and inorganic surfaces, and conducting the large-area depth profiling analysis. The UHV STM/AFM can image the surface topography on the atomic/nano-scale. All the instruments can be applied to analysis of thin films, biological samples and nano-structured materials.

For reservation details and usage rate, please contact Dr. Nianqiang (Nick) Wu, at e-mail n-wu@northwestern.edu or at phone 847-491-5505. More details can be seen in our website: http://epic.ms.northwestern.edu/kiss/

The Magnetic Resonance (MR) Research Facility is dedicated to providing equipment and training for research in magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy and their biomedical applications.

The Center for Genetic Medicine Microarray Core Facility was established to provide the technology to conduct experiments ranging from the monitoring of gene expression of thousands of genes simultaneously under different conditions, to classification of tumors from cancer patients and pharmaceutical and clinical research.

The Monoclonal Antibody Facility provides investigators access to the technology for the efficient creation of hybridoma cell lines and the production of monoclonal antibodies from these cell lines.

The NMR Facility at Northwestern is a NIH-funded university-wide shared resource dedicated for Structural Biology research. The Facility comprises a 600 MHz spectrometer, which is housed in the Analytical Services Laboratory (ASL) of the Department of Chemistry. The facility is also equipped with three SGI O2 workstations and an assortment of software and graphics visualization tools for NMR spectral processing and analysis. The workstations are also equipped with software and computing power for NMR structure determination of average-sized proteins, nucleic acids and carbohydrates.

The NU Atomic-Nanoscale Characterization Experimental User Facility offers an integrated and open-access resource for imaging, analysis and fabrication of surface/interface, nano-bio structures and engineering systems. It consists of three core facilities: 1) EPIC: Scanning and transmission electron microscopes, and specimen preparations, 2) Keck-II: Surface science capablities such as XPS, SIMS, and UHV STM/AFV, and 3) NIFTI: Scanning probe microscopy, lithography, NSOM, and related techniques.

The primary mission of the Northwestern University Biotechnology Laboratory (NUBL) is to develop and maintain a cost-effective service laboratory that meets the biotechnology needs of Northwestern University. NUBL's goal is to develop the vision and expertise to lead rather than follow in obtaining, using, and providing state-of-the-art instrumentation and methodologies for biological, biomedical, and clinical research. NUBL assists research in small and large laboratories by providing a wide range of fee-for-service analytical methods and access to high tech instrumentation for researcher use.

The Northwestern University High Throughput Analysis Facility (HTA) is a shared, open-access resource established in 2004.   The HTA provides academic and industrial researchers with equipment and expertise for the development and execution of high throughput biological analysis and screening.   The facility is fully equipped with state-of-the-art liquid handling, plate detection and automated microbial culture handling capabilities. The HTA also assists researchers in developing HT nucleic acid purification and cloning protocols and develops novel automated methods to increase assay and sample preparation throughput.   Please contact the HTA for a complete description of facility capabilities or to discuss your project.

The Northwestern University Instrument Shop is a fully staffed, scientifically oriented machine shop, administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research for the purpose of serving the research communities needs. We maintain a staff of five highly experienced instrument makers, skilled in a wide variety of disciplines and techniques for the design, fabrication and repair of scientific instruments. We make small to medium size vacuum chambers, test specimens and lab fixturing of all kinds. We also facilitate vendor contracted vacuum pump repair and perform vacuum leak detection in our shop or your lab.

The Northwestern University Shared Research Facilities provides links to the various research facilities at Northwestern that are shared by the many science departments at both the Chicago and Evanston campuses.

The Outcomes Measurement Core Facility provides consultation and support for research that involves collecting, analyzing or interpreting self-report data, to promote the understanding of measurement fundamentals and the improvement of research practice.

The Pathology Core Facility provides customtailored tissue processing and histology services with the capability and flexibility to address specific research protocol needs, as well as human tissue and fluid procurement, storage and distribution, and quality assurance and protection of research subjects.

The Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center Central Facilities provide low-cost media, sera, tissue culture reagents, molecular biology enzymes and kits to researchers and laboratories at Northwestern and affiliated hospitals. The center also supports the operations of shared facilities for transgenic mice, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, oligonucleotide synthesis, histology, cell imaging, tissue culture supplies, and DNA and protein sequence analysis.

The Northwestern University Transgenic Core Facility is a university-wide shared resource dedicated to generating genetically-modified animals for investigators within the research community at Northwestern University and its affiliate institutions. Transgenic technology is used to generate animal models in which the complexities of gene function and regulation can be studied. Transgenic animals offer a major advantage over in vitro methods in that genes can be studied in their natural milieu where they often function in concert with other genes. The ability to either express or functionally inactivate, in genetically modified animals, defined genes in a developmentally- and tissue- specific manner has lead to significant insights into and the understanding of the role genes play under both normal and abnormal conditions in many different and diverse fields of scientific study.