MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
Research facilities
State-of-the-art research facilities at NIMR are supported by more than 150 research support staff, in addition to those providing central services and common facilities.
Explore the support, facilities and expertise available at NIMR through the gallery below, or use the navigation on the left.
Biological Services provides a fully integrated animal and technical resource to the Institute.
The MRC Biomedical NMR Centre is a multi-user facility for biomolecular liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which was set up by the MRC in 1980 to provide advanced and well-supported facilities for use by scientists from NIMR and other academic research establishments.
The Division of Mathematical Biology contains a support service for protein sequence analysis and structure modelling. It draws on the state-of-the-art algorithms being developed by the experts in Mathematical Biology.
PhotoGraphics is fully equipped and staffed by design and visual specialists who provide a professional graphic, design and imaging service to staff and students at the Institute and the MRC more generally.
The Flow Cytometry Facility provides state-of-the-art technology for high speed, sterile sorting of multiple types of cell populations for cellular, molecular, signalling and in vivo studies. The facility also provides single cell sorting and cloning. In addition, it offers multiparameter fluorochrome analysis of cell markers, and measurement of calcium fluxes, apoptosis and cell cycle parameters.
The Procedural Service Section provides transgenics, cryopreservation and rederivation...
NIMR have dedicated computing and IT support staff on hand, providing services including network infrastructure, central computing services, desktop computer support, data storage and archiving, wireless networks, email, web servers and the internal phone system.
The Engineering and Electronics sections at NIMR provide a design, construction and commissioning facility for bespoke electronic, computer-interfaced and mechanical instruments, including associated software.
The Histology Service provides a range of sectioning techniques for visualisation of tissue structure and gene expression in animal research models.
High resolution Cryo Electron Microscopy (CryoEM) enables the structure of biological molecules and larger materials to be visualised in a frozen hydrated state without fixation or staining.
High-throughput sequencing technologies are revolutionising molecular genetics, vastly expanding our ability to study genome structure, how genes are regulated and how cell and tissue differentiation occurs.
X-ray crystallography enables atomic resolution structures of biological molecules to be determined from protein crystals.
NIMR’s dedicated Technology Transfer Liaison officer supports staff by providing mechanisms and structures and encouraging scientists to be alert to potential exploitation opportunities. Basic technology transfer activities such as material transfer agreements, collaboration agreements and confidentiality agreements can be dealt with locally and speedily.
The NIMR Library is dedicated to serving the information needs of the scientific staff and students of NIMR and MRCT.
The affymetrix microarray facility enables a wide range of highly parallel genomic analyses, making use of the sequence data from a diverse range of organisms. A major use is for the generation of gene expression profiles, enabling the understanding of complex biological processes and disease through approaches such as Systems Biology analysis.
The Confocal Imaging and Analysis Laboratory (CIAL) provides a core imaging and support facility for NIMR scientists.
Within Bioresources the Large Scale Lab provides a cell culture service and grows a wide range of animal, insect, yeast and bacterial cells; the Media Preparation facility has formulae for over 1200 types of product and has the expertise to produce small batches of custom-made media; and the Freezer Archive is a purpose-designed facility for the long-term, secure storage of frozen material.
The Safety Section monitors compliance with the relevant Health and Safety legislation and the agreed Codes of Practice at NIMR. Areas covered include fire, radiological and biological safety. All staff are offered safety training and advice.
The Institute has two mass spectrometers which are used in a range of biochemical applications.
Single molecule techniques give insights into how biological molecules work and how they are structured.
Within the complex of buildings that make up NIMR is a suite of laboratories (Level 4 high containment virus laboratory) for handling viruses with high pathogenic potential for birds, humans or other mammals.
Electron microscopy (EM) facilities at NIMR include both Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscope facilities (currently being upgraded to CCD photography), and a dedicated EM processing laboratory.
The NIMR Web Team is responsible for the development of the external website and intranet.
The Institute has two analytical ultracentrifuges located in the Division of Physical Biochemistry. These instruments provide first-principle hydrodynamic and thermodynamic information concerning the size, shape and association state of macromolecules.
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