Biological Imaging Lab

The Biological Imaging Lab consist of two a state-of-the-art microscopy suites located in the Gottwald Center for the Sciences. The Electron Microscopy Suite is home to three advanced microscopes and modern preparation tools. The Light Microscopy Suite encompasses six epifluorescent microscopes. Both facilities allow student and faculty researchers to capture images of the highest quality. Students in particular are encouraged to work in the suites to gain first-hand experience with microscopy techniques that are not often available at the undergraduate level.

There is an entire world interwoven into day-to-day life that is simply too small to see. Whether it is viral and bacterial organisms that lead to disease, or subcellular structures that transport the cure, biology has become a discipline that relies on microscopy. The transmission electron microscope allows you to see a virus and chart its structure. With the laser scanning confocal microscope, you can visualize the nervous system of a worm in three dimensions (without harming the worm!). With the scanning electron microscope you can see animals that are barely bigger than a grain of sand. Our epifluorescent microscopes allow you to find the location of proteins within living cells.

These four major imaging techniques are used on a daily basis by scientist around the world to better understand how small things work. They’re used to study disease, development and diversity in Biology. Companies in the semiconductor field find imaging technologies so vital to their bottom line that they employ full time staff just to keep their microscopes running 24/7. Seeing is believing. With the microscopes in the biological imaging lab, you’ll see things you never knew existed.