Core Facility Type

Archaeological Research Facility

The Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) is a hub for archaeologists and archaeology-related research at UC Berkeley. They have field and lab instruments available for on and off-campus researchers on a recharge basis. They also offer workshops on the use of these instruments. Their field instruments include near-surface geophysical sensors (GPR, gradiometry, and resistivity), mapping devices (RTK GNSS, total stations, GIS software, 3d scanners), and photography (UAV, cameras, pole and kite photography systems). They also have lab instruments such as SEM, microwave digestion, XRF, high power microscopes). See their website under "Equipment" for more details.

Berkeley Pre-Clinical Imaging Core Facility (BPIC)

US, CT, MRI, EchoMRI (mouse fat-water measurement), X-ray irradiator.

Biological Imaging FacilityBerkeley RIC

A state-of-the-art light microscopy facility specializing in live and fixed cell imaging. Specializes in Widefield, Spinning-Disk Confocal, Laser Scanning Confocal, Deconvolution and Super-Resolution fluorescence microscopy. Also advanced software for image analysis and presentation (Imaris, HuygensPro), as well as microtechnique (both paraffin/plastic and cryotomy) equipment and training.

Cal-Cryo@QB3Berkeley RIC

The Cal-Cryo facility, housed in the basement of Stanley Hall, is led by Professors Eva Nogales and James Hurley and began operations in February 2018. Our facility is used to collect image data of biological or soft material samples before it is processed using single particle or tomographic reconstruction methods Our staff offer consultation and training in specimen preparation, microscope operation, image acquisition, and data analysis. The facility’s instrumentation features automated data collection. Both single-particle micrographs and tomography tilt series can be collected.

Cal-Cryo@QB3-Berkeley instruments include:

Krios G2 300kV CryoTEM
GATAN K3 Direct Electron Detector
Volta Phase Plate, BIO Quantum Energy Filter
Krios G3i 300kV CryoTEM
GATAN K3 Direct Electron Detector
BIO Quantum Energy Filter
Talos Arctica 200kV CryoTEM
Gatan K3 Direct Electron Detector
FEI Mark IV Vitrobot

Request services or access through Second Lab

College of Chemistry X-ray Crystallography Facility (CheXray)Berkeley RIC

Provides all services related to the X-ray diffraction of single crystals and powders of small molecule compounds. Typically, X-ray diffraction is used to determine the solid-state molecular structure at the atomic level of crystalline samples, including absolute stereochemistry of chiral compounds. The facility currently houses state-of-the-art single crystal and powder X-ray diffractometers.

CRL Molecular Imaging CenterBerkeley RIC

A state-of-the-art light microscopy facility specializing in imaging live cell and live small model organisms (zebrafish, drosophila, c. elegans, etc.), laser-scanning and spinning disk confocal microscopy, multi-photon microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), super resolution (AiryScan and Fast Airyscan), light-sheet microscopy (SPIM), holographic patterned illumination for optogenetic studies, and slide scanning with histological stains and fluorescence.

The CRL Molecular Imaging Center operates in 3 different buildings on campus, with the primary locations in Life Sciences Addition (251 LSA), a North-side core in 320 Barker Hall, and a small outpost in the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences (230 Li Ka Shing Center).

Electron Microscope LaboratoryBerkeley RIC

Provides EM services to the Berkeley campus and the academic community at large. The EML houses both TEMs and SEMs and provides three types of service: (1) education and training, (2) equipment for trained users, and (3) full service microscopy for pilot studies. The EML specializes in cryopreservation via HPF/FS. All services are available to anyone with an interest in electron microscopy: graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral researchers, faculty, staff, and non-UC users.

Henry H. Wheeler, Jr. Brain Imaging CenterBerkeley RIC

The Henry H. Wheeler, Jr. Brain Imaging Center's MRI facility houses an actively-shielded 3 Tesla Siemens Prisma scanner. The 64-channel console is equipped with 20-, 32- and 64-channel receive-only head coils, small and large flex coils, and spine/body matrix coils. The scanner is capable of high-performance EPI for fMRI, diffusion imaging, perfusion imaging, high resolution anatomical scanning and a wide range of standard clinical sequences.

QB3 Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center (BNC)Berkeley RIC

The BNC is a fabrication and experimentation facility specializing in BioMEMS, microfluidic devices, electron/ion beam microscopy and nanofabrication. We are a core facility of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences and are open to university, national lab, and industry users. Equipment and instrumentation encompasses photolithography, soft lithography, deposition, etching, metrology (including Keyence 3D laser scanning microscope), biological experimentation, an FEI Quanta dual-beam gallium FIB/SEM (EDX, EBSD, STEM detector, OmniProbe, gas injector system, pico-indenter, environmental mode), and a Zeiss ORION NanoFab Helium Ion Microscope (gas injector system for insulator/metal deposition and gas-assisted etching, charge-neutralization system, gallium FIB, NPVE pattern generator). Instrumentation also includes PHI XPS (X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy) with ion beam for materials analysis, both surface and bulk properties, Nanosurf COREAFM atomic force microscopy, and Parylene Chemical Vapor Deposition system. A full list of equipment and services can be found on the BNC website. The BNC also houses instructional labs and is adjacent to QB3 incubator space.

Request services or access through Second Lab

QB3 Cell and Tissue Analysis Facility (CTAF)Berkeley RIC

The Cell and Tissue Analysis Facility (CTAF) provides the cell culture equipment and high-end instrumentation needed to grow and assess mammalian cells, tissues, proteins, and more from flow cytometry to multiplex ELISA to automated epifluorescence, confocal, and multiphoton imaging.

Instruments include:

Cell Culturing Facility for Mammalian Cell Culture with Biospherix Hypoxia Chambers
Automated Epifluorescence/Live Imaging Microscopy and Analysis Workstation; ImageXpress Micro, Molecular Devices
Lionheart FX/Live Imaging, Agilent/Biotek
Multiphoton Photon Microscopy; Bruker/Prairie Technologies
Confocal Microscopy, Bruker/Prairie Technologies
SpectraMax M5 MultiMode Plate Reader, Molecular Devices
Bio-Plex MAGPIX Multiplex Reader, BioRad
Flow Cytometry; Attune NxT Acoustic Focusing Cytometer blue/red/violet/yellow, ThermoFisher
CFX Connect qPCR, Thermal Cycler, and GenePulser Xcell Electroporator, BioRad
Histology Suite with Cryostar NX50 cryostat, HM 430 Freezing Stage Sliding Microtome, and Paraffin Embedding (FFPE) and Sectioning, ThermoFisher

This facility was formerly titled the QB3 Shared Stem Cell Facility.

QB3 High Throughput Screening FacilityBerkeley RIC

The High-Throughput Screening Facility (HTSF), located in the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, provides access to cell culturing space, automated liquid handling, automated plate reader and high-throughput, high-content microscopy instrumentation for screening experiments, along with tools for analysis and data visualization. Emphasis is on whole genome and sub-library siRNA screening from various sources but other high-throughput fluidics projects are welcome.