Shared Resources
As part of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, CCIL scientists enjoy access to some of the world’s most renowned technological resources, including top-ranked research labs and centers in supercomputing, biotechnology, genomic biology, and veterinary medicine, among others. This infrastructure enables our researchers to do what they do best: solve complex problems that span disciplinary expertise.
Tumor Engineering and Phenotyping Shared Resource
The Cancer Center at Illinois Tumor Engineering and Phenotyping shared resource (SR) supports and advances cancer research by enabling the systematic analyses of materials spanning the spectrum of cancer research, from cells to engineered models. TEP will make available materials derived from cancer cells, the design and engineering of model predictive tissue systems, the development and validation of innovative animal cancer resources to enable the creation of therapeutic and diagnostic tools, the conductance of essential mechanistic studies necessary to expedite cancer discoveries, and to streamline the planning of experimental protocols. The shared resource also aims to train students and scholars in experiments and to provide expert guidance in experimental design and the analysis pipeline.
Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center
The Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center provides state-of-the art facilities for molecular biology research, including DNA and protein sequencing and oligonucleotide and peptide synthesis. The W. M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics conducts research on the comparative genetic organization, evolution, and function of plant, animal, and microbial genomes and provides sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis, DNA microarray facilities, and bioinformatics specialists. The Protein Sciences Facility aids researchers in protein sequence analysis, peptide synthesis, and 2D gel electophoresis. Services offered by the Immunological Resource Center include the creation, purification, and immunochemical labeling of antibodies. In addition to a state-of-the art cell sorter, the Flow Cytometry Facility maintains several satellite flow cytometry machines throughout campus.
Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory
The Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory is one of the nation’s largest and most sophisticated university-based facilities for semiconductor, nanotechnology, and biotechnology research. It is a user facility, with over 8,000 square feet of class 100 and class 1000 clean room laboratory and state-of-the-art ultra-high-speed optical and electrical device and circuit measurements. The bionanosystems area utilizes the various technologies developed in materials, nanofabrication, devices, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) to study biological issues. Biomolecular flow patterns in nanoscale channels, integration of lasers onto biochips for real-time fluorescence study of bioreactions, and implantation of active devices in cells to study cellular biochemistry are examples of research activities.
Multimodal Biomedical Imaging
The Multimodal Biomedical Imaging shared resource offers access to the suites of imaging instrumentation at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) and the Imaging Technology Group (ITG) at the Beckman Institute. Through coordinated leadership, the IGB and ITG have been working together to address the multi-scale imaging needs of the community. IGB provides high-end light microscopy instrumentation, cell-counting, and serial block-face scanning electron microscopy; while the ITG provides two imaging research components: the Visualization Lab and Microscopy suite. The ITG Visualization Lab provides a wide range of sophisticated image-processing software tools on supercomputers that can handle large data sets, and the ITG Microscopy suite provides numerous types of microscopy equipment along with other analytical and preparation equipment.