Facilities
Nonlinear Microscopy Lab
This laboratory facility exploits the advantages of nonlinear optical techniques for imaging cells and tissue. Various lasers are used to generate ultrashort optical pulses, which are shaped to enhance imaging of specific molecular features.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Original SLAM (Simultaneous Label-free Autofluorescence Multiharmonic) microscopy setup
- VAMPIRE (Versatile Autofluorescence lifetime imaging, Multiharmonic generation, Polarization-sensitive Interferometry, and Raman scattering in Epi-detection) microscopy setup
- Stagetop incubator
- Fast FLIM of NAD(P)H and FAD autofluorescence, second harmonic generation, CARS and polarization sensitive OCM.
- SLAM 2.0 microscopy setup
- Fast FLIM of FAD and NAD(P)H. 4-photon autofluorescence of tryptophan and 2-photon autofluorescence of porphyrin.
- Single-source optogenetics microscopy system
- Multiphoton probes for in vivo imaging
- Biosafety Level 2
Nonlinear Optics Development Lab
Here, our lab members are working to innovate our Simultaneous Label-free Autofluorescence Multiharmonic (SLAM) microscopy methods.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Vibrational imaging with SLAM (VISLAM)
- Hyperspectral nonlinear microscopy
- Interferometric Nonlinear Vibrational Imaging (INVI)
Center for Optical Molecular Imaging (COMI)
This laboratory, operated in collaboration with GSK, is dedicated to the development of novel optical imaging technology and applications in drug discovery, development, and distribution. This lab consists of state-of-the-art nonlinear optical microscopy systems that are used for a wide variety of experiments.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- COMI microscope:
- Stagetop incubator
- Ideal for label-free imaging of live cell culture and tissue
- Shared inverted epi detection
- SLAM with TCSPC FLIM of FAD and NAD(P)H
- 2-photon TCSPC FLIM of FAD and NAD(P)H
- Hyperspectral CARS
- Biosafety cabinet for cell culture
- Incubator for cell culture
- Shaking incubator for CHO cell culture
- Vi-CELL for automated cell counting and cell viability
- Centrifuge
- White-light microscope
- Biosafety Level 2
Primary Care Imaging Suite
This room, nicknamed the "Doctor's Office of the Future", contains new and innovate technologies for primary care physicians. Our group is designing cutting-edge optical techniques and systems with the ultimate goal of integrating them into existing medical procedures and tests. This room was designed with a patient care suite in mind. It has equipment that a typical physicians office has, as well as our portable advanced imaging systems.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Heidelberg OCT system for ophthalmic imaging
- JenLab system with two-photon autofluorescence, second harmonic generation, and CARS
- Portable OCT in cart for imaging middle-ear infections
- Otoscope & Ophthalmoscope
- Intraoperative Handheld OCT
- Biosafety Level 1
Portable Optical Imaging Design Lab
This is where our advanced OCT systems are developed and tested, as well as miniaturized into a cart. Several optical tables are housed here as well as a staging area for our portable systems.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Cancer margin imaging system: handheld probe with FDML Swept-Source OCT and nonlinear microscopy
- Raman spectroscopy + OCT probe for imaging middle-ear infections
- Briefcase OCT for portable and affordable imaging
- Biosafety Level 2
Optical Coherence Microscopy Lab
This lab is used to culture and image neurons using optical coherence microscopy (OCM) systems.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- SPoOF (Super-fast Polarization-sensitive Off-axis Full-field) OCM setup
- Images at 4000 Hz across a 200×200 μm² region
- 300-pm displacement sensitivity
- Polarization Sensitive
- Can measure changes to birefringence and optical path length at a sub-millisecond scale
- Application example: imaging single-cell and network-level neuronal responses
- Bichromatic Tetraphasic (BiTe) full-field optical coherence microscope
- Has three contrasts
- Optical intensity changes from biological dynamics
- Reconstructed optical phase for each color
- Pseudo-Spectroscopic contrast
- Application example: imaging tumor dynamics
- Has three contrasts
- Brightfield microscope
- Optical table
- Biosafety cabinet
- Incubator
- Centrifuge
- Biosafety Level 2
Bacterial Imaging Lab
This room is equipped for OCT imaging, biofilm culturing, and fiber splicing.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Swept-Source Polarization-Sensitive OCT system
- Polarization-Sensitive OCT system on a cart
- 1300 nm multi-purpose OCT setup
- Fiber cleaver and splicer
- Optical table
- Two biosafety cabinets for bacteria culture
- Incubator for bacteria culture
- Centrifuge
- Drip Flow Reactor for biofilm culturing
- Biosafety Level 2
Dark Room
"Where light is shunned"
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Stanford Photonics Bioluminescence system
- NanoLive 3D Cell Explorer Fluo:
- Stagetop incubator
- Digital Holographic Microscopy for 3D quantitative refractive index imaging of cell culture
- Co-localized 3 channel 2D fluorescence
- Biosafety Level 2
Tissue Preparation Suite
This lab contains equipment for collecting tissue samples.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Surgical tools and suite
- Freezer
- Refrigerator
- Biosafety Level 2
Histology Lab
No imaging would be complete without comparing the imaging results to the "gold standard", which is histology. This laboratory facility is equipped with state of the art equipment for fixing and preparing our own tissue samples for histology, thus allowing us to perform direct comparison studies using histology as the gold standard of diagnostic medicine to confirm the features observed through our imaging modalities.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Cryostat
- Microtome
- Chemical fume hood
- Tissue processor
- Paraffin embedder
- Automatic microscope slide stainer
- Nanozoomer Slide Digitizer
- Biosafety Level 2
Wet Lab
This BL2 laboratory allows us to conduct studies on human and pre-clinical model specimens from our approved Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocols as well as conduct collaborative work with institutions such as Carle Foundation Hospital, Provena Medical Center, the NIH Tissue Banks, and the UIUC College of Veterinary Medicine. This wet-chemical laboratory is also used for fabricating novel targeted contrast and therapeutic agents for imaging. This laboratory is also used to isolate different subpopulations of extracellular vesicles. Attached to this laboratory space is a separate, isolated BL2 room used exclusively for cell culture work. This laboratory space is managed by a full-time Biological Research Manager who oversees all biological aspects of the group research, including cell culture training and efficient lab space/resource utilization.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Zeiss inverted fluorescent microscope
- Refrigerated microcentrifuge
- Thermo Scientific™ Sorvall WX+ Ultracentrifuge
(spins up to 100,000 rpm) - NanoDrop Microvolume Spectrophotometer
- Qubit 4 Fluorometer
- Chemical reagent storage
- Multiplate reader
- Electrophoresis & Protein Immunoblotting equipment
- Microwave
- Lab vacuum oven
- Cryogenic storage dewar unit for long-term cell storage
(-80°C freezer in another lab) - Biosafety Level 2
Cell Culture Lab
The cell culture room is used for maintaining immortalized or primary mammalian tissue cell cultures under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. We have all the supplies needed to keep cells alive, support cell proliferation, differentiation or perturb normal cell functions and induce various types of cell death, if you're interested in apoptosis or necrosis.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Two biosafety cabinets, one 6' and one 4'
- Refrigerated microcentrifuge
- White-light microscope
- One incubator with 5% CO2 supply and regulated temperature
- One incubator with 5% CO2 supply, nitrogen (N2) supply, and regulated temperature
- Heated two-chamber water bath
- Biosafety Level 2
Machine Shop
Grind... Thud... Blam...
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- 3D printer and wash station
- Band saw
- Drill
- Electronic circuit building and repair station
- Soldering station
Office Space
Our office space consists of an open space with graduate student desks, post-doc and staff offices, a seating area, shared computers, and conference tables. We are located on the 4th floor of Beckman: as you exit the elevators, walk south towards the Tower Room, and then turn left.
RESOURCES IN THIS LAB:
- Computers
- Printer
- Meeting areas
- TVs and whiteboards
- Coffee and tea
- Friendship
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Facilities
Biological Resource Facility
One of five facilities located on the UIUC campus is housed inside the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. This facility is able to safely accommodate a wide variety of species allowing researchers in this highly interdisciplinary institute to carry out more clinically relevant studies.
Visualization Laboratory
The Visualization Laboratory resources support a wide variety of projects for research, including: 2D/3D/4D image analysis and quantification, scientific visualization, ultra-high speed video, macro-photograpy, macro-video, video production, 3D animation, high-resolution 2D scanning, 3D object scanning, full-color 3D printing, research presentation methods, publication graphics, and additional capabilities in support of imaging. This facility is maintained by the Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
Microscopy Suite
The Microscopy Suite (MS) is one of the two primary service facilities supported by the Imaging Technology Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. A wide range of imaging modalities and supporting equipment is available for the preparation, imaging and analysis of microscopic specimens. Instruments in the facility include dissecting, stereology, fluorescence, confocal, transmission electron, environmental scanning electron, atomic force and near field scanning optical microscopes.
Illinois Simulator Laboratory
The primary mission of the Illinois Simulator Laboratory (ISL), now managed by the Imaging Technology Group, is to support the integration of advanced technologies so researchers can conduct experiments in human multi-modal perception and cognition. To facilitate this mission, the ISL provides software allowing the incorporation of individualized multimodal control and monitoring technologies into advanced visualization environments, both immersive and ultra-high resolution.
Biomedical Imaging Center
The Biomedical Imaging Center (BIC) provides the facilities, equipment, and training for research in NMR imaging and spectroscopy spanning across the fields of engineering, neuroscience, speech and hearing science, psychology, biology, medicine, and other fields.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Facilities
Biotechnology Center
The UIUC Biotechnology Center houses many facilities critical to the biosciences including the W.M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics, Proteins Sciences Facility, Immunological Resource Center, and Flow Cytometry Facility.
Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST)
The Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology is an interdisciplinary center combining faculty from across many departments in the spirit of the development of nanoscale materials, devices, systems, and applications.
Institute for Genomic Biology
The Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was established in 2003 to advance life science research and stimulate bio-economic development in the state of Illinois.
Construction of the $75 million, 186,000 square foot state-of-the-art IGB facility began in April 2004. Completed in mid-2006, the facility now houses up to 400 researchers in three broad Program Areas:
- Systems Biology
- Cellular and Metabolic Engineering
- Genome Technology
Materials Research Laboratory (MRL)
The Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory is one of the many interdisciplinary research laboratories on campus. It houses the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, Center for Computation, Molecular Beam Epitaxy Facility, Laser and Spectroscopy Facility, Microfabrication and Crystal Growth Facility, and the Magnetic Characterization and Low-Temperature Facility. Today, the MRL hosts over 220 instruments and continues to foster interdisciplinary research at the forefront of materials science.