Research Facilities

Molecular Biosciences researchers and students benefit from shared facilities at Northwestern University and throughout the Chicagoland area. Two of these facilities, the Keck Biophysics Facility and the High Throughput Analysis Facility, are housed within the department. Both facilities have recently undergone major upgrades and renovations, ensuring that they will continue to provide the most comprehensive service and state-of-the-art equipment in their respective fields.

• Facility Highlights
  
• Facility List

Facility Highlights

Keck Biophysics Facility

The Keck Biophysics Facility, is a unique resource for studying the structures, dynamics and interactions of biological and synthetic macromolecules. This shared research center provides access to a comprehensive collection of 22 research instruments including

• Fluorimeters
• Spectrophotometers
• Calorimeters
• Analytical ultracentrifuges
• Light scattering instruments.

With grants from the W.M.Keck Foundation and additional support from the NIH, the Rice Foundation, and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Keck Facility was created by and is housed in Northwestern University's Center for Structural Biology. 

High Throughput Analysis Facility

The High Throughput Analysis Laboratory (HTA) is a shared, open-access resource facility established in 2004; it provides academic, industrial, and private researchers with equipment and expertise for the development and execution of high throughput biological analysis and chemical library screening.

• The HTA facility is equipped with state-of-the-art robots and instruments for
• Micro-liter and nano-liter liquid handling
• Automated microbial culture handling
• Quantifying target-based phenotypic assays using photometric and radioactive label readouts
• Automated fluorescence microscopy
• quantitative imaging analysis for high content screening.

HTA services for users:

• Designing HTP experiments and data automation,
• Access to robotic equipment
• Assistance in grant preparation for HTP-related projects
• Scientific collaboration in grant proposals containing an HTP component. 
• Manage on-site access to whole-genome RNAi collections (Open Biosystems) for knockdown of mouse and human gene expression from . 

For a complete description of facility capabilities or to discuss your project, please contact the HTA Laboratory.

Facility List

Research Facilities

• Bioinformatics Core
• Clinical Pharmacology Core
  
• Clinical Research Office
  
• Genomics Core at the Center for Genetic Medicine
  
• Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC)
  
• Monoclonal Antibody Facility
  
• NU-Atomic-Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Facility (NUANCE)
  
• Northwestern University High Throughput Analysis Lab (HTA)
  
• Northwestern University Instrument Shop
• Northwestern University Shared Research Facilities
  
• Outcomes Measurement and Survey Core Facility
  
• Pathology Core Facility
  
• Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center Central Facilities
  
• Transgenic and Targeted Mutagenesis Laboratory

Imaging/Cell Imaging Facilities

• Biological Imaging Facility
• Cell Imaging Core
  
• Flow Cytometry Facility
  
• Center for Translational Imaging
• Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging

Structural Biology And Biophysics Facilities

• Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
• DuPont - Northwestern - Dow Collaborative Access Team
• J.B. Cohen X-Ray Diffraction Facility
• Biological NMR Facility
• Structural Biology Facility