Facilities and Resources
Departmental Facilities & Resources

Genomics Core Facility
A full-service facility that provides investigators with a variety of options for whole genome analysis via high-throughput screening, immunoprecipitation, and bulk & single cell sequencing strategies.
The Facility is managed by Michelle Pherson, Ph.D. (314-977-9252; Email).
Washington University Center for Cellular Imaging (WUCCI)
SLU and Washington University signed a collaboration agreement that allows SLU researchers to use the WU Center for Cellular Imaging (WUCCI), a state-of-the-art imaging facility that opened in 2015, and offers light microscopy, electron microscopy, and x-ray microscopy, in addition to cryo-EM. The partnership was highlighted with the joint acquistition of a Glacios 200 kV cryo-EM microscope financed by a strategic investment of the Doisy Fund in Biochemistry.
SLU researchers have the same access, priority, costs, and technical help afforded to WU investigators as well as providing access to instruments not currently at SLU. For more details, see the story, SLU and WUCCI Collaborate, in our News & Events section.
A list of all available equipment can be downloaded here: WUCCI Equipment
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X-ray Facility
A state-of-the-art X-ray facility is available to researchers in the department for the collection of high-resolution data on macromolecular samples. The facility has a 0.8 kW MM007 Rigaku generator with VHF optics interfaced to an R-Axis IV++ imaging plate system and a 1.2 kW MM007HF Rigaku generator with VHF optics double ported with two R-Axis IV++ imaging plate systems. A Phoenix robotic instrumentation from Art Robbins Instruments is available for the preparation, screening and imaging of crystals.
The Facility is managed by Sergey Korolev, Ph.D. (314-977-9261; Email).
NMR Facility
The Department of Chemistry houses an NMR facility, which is available to all researchers at SLU. The facility has a multi-nuclear Bruker spectrometer with the field strength of 16.4 Tesla, as well as a newly-installed Bruker Avance HDTM 700MHz NMR spectrometer. These instruments can be used to determine the structures of organic molecules and biomolecules, and can also be used in other dynamic studies.
The Facility is located in Shannon Hall and is managed by Fehu He (314-977-3241; Email) in the Department of Chemistry.


Olympus cellTIRF-4
The Olympus cellTIRF-4 Line system allows ultra-sensitive, simultaneous multicolor Total Internal Reflection (TIRF) using four laser channels with independent beam paths. This inverted microscope-based system with cellTIRF laser illumination (491 nm, 561nm, and 640 nm) allows through-objective TIRF with software control of the depth of evanescent field, allowing the user to produce high-contrast images with minimal background noise for cell surface and single molecule studies.
An Andor IXON Ultra897 EMCCD camera and QV2 four-channel image splitter allow simultaneous recording of up to four color images of immobilized single molecules at up to 52 frames per second. Fast (1 ms) switching between lasers allows interrogating immobilized molecules with alternating two excitation wavelengths.
The Olympus cellTIRF4-Line system is managed by Tomasz Heyduk, Ph.D. (314-977-9238; Email).
MicroTime 200
The MicroTime 200 is a time-resolved confocal microscope with unique single molecule sensitivity. It includes an Olympus X71 inverted microscope-based system with 488, 532, and 640 nm picosecond pulsed lasers, four detection channels, and a piezo xyz scanner. Emission can be split according to color or polarization.
Typical uses of this instrument are for single molecule FRET, including Pulsed Interleaved Excitation, FRET, FCS, FCCS, FLCS, TCSPC histogram, and photon-counting histogram. Additional analyses are possible for freely diffusing molecules as well as imaging measurement analyses are possible: Time-gated Fluorescence Intensity Imaging, Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging, FLIM-FRET, Intensity FRET, and Anisotropy imaging.
The MicroTime 200 is managed by Nicola Pozzi, Ph.D. (314-977-9259; Email).


Bioinformatics Facility
The Bioinformatics Facility offers complete analysis of high-throughput expression data, including gene ontology enrichment analysis. We also offer next-generation genomic sequence assembly and variant analysis. We maintain an in-house MASCOT database for peptide mass searches, NCBI BLAST for custom database searching, and HMMer for protein domain searches. Custom script development is available for automation of protein and DNA sequence analysis. We have access to a state-of-the-art high performance-computing cluster maintained by the Biochemistry HPC core.
The Facility is managed by Maureen Donlin, Ph.D. (314-977-8858; Email).
Lipidomics Core Facility
The Lipidomics Core Facility, operated by the department and the Center for Cardiovascular Research at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, is a University resource located in the Doisy Research Center. The Facility focuses on small molecule identification and quantification by mass spectrometry.
Instrumentation in this Core includes a Thermo Vaquish LC and Altis triple quadrupole electrospray ionization mass spectrometer, as well as two HP6890 gas chromatographs with FID detector and HP 5973 MS detector with both electron impact and chemical ionization sources.
The Facility is managed by Dave Ford, Ph.D. (314-977-9264; Email).


Protein Core Facility
A shared-use facility that supports expression, purification, and analysis of research proteins by providing an array of instrumentation and consultation on strategies for protein production from small to large scale.
The Facility is managed by Yie-Hwa Chang, Ph.D. (314-977-9264; Email).
EPR Facility
The Doisy Research Center Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Facility is equipped with an EMX X-band continuous-wave (CW) EPR spectrometer and a Bruker Elexsys E580 pulse EPR spectrometer capable of pulse and CW EPR spectroscopy at both X and Q-bands, as well as a variety of ELDOR and ENDOR spectroscopies.
- Bruker Elexsys E580 Q-band (33.9 GHz) EPR spectrometer equipped with a 40 W TWT amplifier
- Bruker X-band (9.8 GHz) EMX spectrometer equipped with ER4122 SHQ and ER4123D dielectric resonators
Saint Louis University School of Medicine is the only location in the state that houses such a facility. The Facility is managed by Reza Dastvan, Ph.D. (314-977-9243; Email).


Phasor FLIM and Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology
The patch-clamp phasor FLIM apparatus at the SLU Doisy Research Center uniquely combines a patch-clamp electrophysiology system (HEKA EPC10) and a time-resolved laser scanning confocal fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) system.
This state-of-the-art confocal FLIM module (ISS, Inc.) has the following capabilities: frequency-domain (phasor) FastFLIM, FLIM-FRET, single-molecule FRET, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and fluorescence anisotropy. Its Galvo-controlled mirrors enable fast laser scanning for live-cell confocal imaging. Pulsed interleaved excitation (PIE) achieved by a supercontinuum laser launcher and two hybrid PMTs (Model R10467, Hamamatsu) facilitate dual-color photon detection. In addition, a spectrograph (Teledyne Princeton Instruments) is incorporated for performing spectral and FLIM imaging of the same biological sample.
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is the only location in Missouri that houses a frequency-domain FastFLIM system, and one of the few places in the U.S. that has the specialized patch-clamp phasor FLIM fluorometry.
This apparatus is managed by Gucan (Gabriel) Dai, Ph.D. (314-977-9211; Email).
Editing Services
Editing services are available to department members as well as to faculty in other School of Medicine departments.
Services are provided by Joel Eissenberg, Ph.D., and are complimentary. Editing activities over the past two years are summarized in the graph below, and include reviewing, editing, and proofing of grants, manuscripts, and other scientific documents.
Contact Joel Eissenberg, Ph.D., directly to learn more (Email).

Department Equipment List
A full list of equipment available in individual labs in the department can be accessed via the links below: