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The Living Systems Institute is home to a temperature and humidity controlled cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) facility, equipped with a cryo-capable 120kV FEI T12 transmission electron microscope and a dedicated sample preparation laboratory. The facility also operates a powerful multi-GPU computer cluster for data analysis and image processing. High resolution data collection is performed at the GW4 Regional Facility for CryoEM in Bristol, which houses a 200kV Talos Arctica and K2 direct electron detector camera.

The LSI Image Analysis Hub (LIAH) facilitates analyses of complex imaging datasets. The LIAH has been set up within LSI to process imaging data acquired using advanced microscopy equipment housed in the Bioimaging Centre, including confocal, lattice structured illumination, and light sheet microscopes. A fast data link to the LIAH allows full and seamless remote control of all optical devices in the Bioimaging Centre.

The data link to LIAH provides efficient transfer of large datasets, which are acquired in sophisticated high-resolution 3D time-lapse experiments or super-resolution analysis, where image acquisition can generate terabytes of data. A repertoire of advanced image processing algorithms enables LSI researchers to extract valuable information from these complex data sets to advance our understanding of the function of living systems in unprecedented detail. 

The Living Systems Institute hosts world-class microfluidic facilities consisting of a suite of equipment for fabricating end-use microfluidic devices. These facilities include equipment for designing and microfabricating microfluidic structures on silicon wafers, processing silicone prepolymer, epoxy, and glass substrates, and for aligning, finishing, and bonding cured devices. Furthermore, our facilities host state-of-the-art microscopy equipment for long-term live-cell imaging of bacterial, fungal, mammalian, and plant cells during exposure to biological, chemical, or physical stimuli.

The Living Systems Institute Tissue Culture Facility provides researchers with a platform for the preparation and analysis of tissue cultures at the cellular level. The facility is a self-contained environmentally controlled suite for the culture of stem cells and other cell types. It features a full complement of equipment, including both standard CO2 incubators and hypoxia-capable incubators alongside class 2 biological safety cabinets, plus separate secure rooms for viral and primary cell cultures.

The facility also hosts a high-content analyser and a dedicated fluorescence microscopy room featuring a time-lapse live cell imaging system. The LSI Tissue Culture Facility is dedicated to advancing the understanding of cellular processes and disease states.

The Â鶹ֱ²¥ Aquatic Resources Centre (ARC) includes 14 aquaria rooms housing a wide range of freshwater and marine species, each relevant to a series of specific research questions for researchers in the Living Systems Institute, Biosciences and the wider Â鶹ֱ²¥.

Image by Alexander Bell (Zebrafish Technician)

The Bioimaging Centre is a research facility within the School of Biosciences providing both  and  to assist researchers and students in collaborative and multidisciplinary research by applying advanced cellular imaging techniques to address key questions in biology.

Cytometry technology facility at the Â鶹ֱ²¥ providing the next generation of flow cytometry systems for quantitative single cell research. This includes cutting-edge flow cytometry analysis (acoustic, spectral, imaging), BSLII cell sorting (e.g. spectral sorter), multiplexing and complex data analysis (DL, ML).

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The Mass Spectrometry Facility specialises in the analysis of small molecules (<1000 daltons). Typical applications supported within the facility include: targeted analysis of amino acids, plant hormones, mammalian steroid hormones, monosaccharides, disaccharides, plant glucosinolates and polar organic acids alongside metabolic profiling, calculations of concentrations and comparative quantification of selected unknown metabolites.