Specialized University Facilities and Equipment
Major research universities like UC Riverside develop and
operate a variety of specialized facilities and instrumentation to
support the campus research and education enterprise. These
services are accessible on a fee-for-service and availability
basis.
As a service to the campus and off-campus scientific community,
the UCR Office of Research is providing this portal to the
following specialized facilities and equipment. Follow the links
for additional information and contacts. For general inquires,
contact Kathy Barton ,
UCR's director of technology collaboration.
Available Services
Analytical
Chemistry Instrumentation Facility
Department of Chemistry
The state-of-the-art Analytical
Chemistry Instrumentation Facility (ACIF), housed in the Department
of Chemistry, contains four specialized units - mass spectrometry,
small molecule X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) spectroscopy and optical spectroscopy. The mass spectrometry
facility currently houses several instruments configured to provide
a wide range of mass spectrometry capabilities, including a high
resolution magnetic sector VG-ZAB, an Applied Biosystems (DE-STR),
a Waters QTOF (Ultima Global), and an Agilent 6210 LCTOF. These
instruments all have the capability to provide accurate mass
measurements to four decimal place accuracy which allows molecular
formula determinations to be made for any compound. Ionization
techniques available include: atmospheric pressure chemical
ionization (APCI), electrospray (ESI), fast atom bombardment (FAB),
and matrix assisted laser desorption (MALDI). Agilent liquid
chromatography equipment is coupled to the QTOF and LCTOF for
analysis of complex non-volatile mixtures. The facility also houses
a low resolution Hewlett-Packard quadrupole GCMS instrument
(HP5989A) for analysis of volatile mixtures. This instrument has
both electron impact (EI) and chemical ionization (CI) capability.
A NIST library is available for data base matching. The X-ray
crystallography facility has two defractometers. The NMR facility
houses six high field NMR spectrometers as well as an EPR and the
optical facility has a wide array of instrumentation including
UV/Vis/NIR, FTIR and Laser Raman.
Director: Dr. Cynthia Larive ,
Professor of Analytical Chemistry
Web site: http://acifws1.ucr.edu/acif/
Phone: (951) 827-2990
Bioinformatics Core
Facility
Center for Plant Cell Biology
The bioinformatic technology core provides the campus research
community with state-of-the-art bioinformatic and cheminformatic
resources for large-scale comparative genomics, data mining,
systems modeling and drug discovery. A wide range of modeling
workstations, high-performance servers and supercomputers (Linux
cluster) with several hundred scientific software tools are
available for these tasks. The bioinformatic core organizes and
teaches hands-on workshops on a wide variety of topics in modern
quantitative biology
(http://faculty.ucr.edu/~tgirke/Workshops.htm). An additional
responsibility of the core is to actively develop research
collaborations with other scientists to assist them with
challenging data analysis tasks, grant writing and research
publications.
Director: Dr. Thomas
Girke, Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics
Web site: http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~tgirke/
Phone: (951) 827-2469
CE-CERT
College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and
Technology
CE-CERT has a variety of analytical tools for measuring
regulated and non-regulated emissions from mobile, non-road and
stationary sources. These tools - the Vehicle Emission Research Lab
(VERL), the Heavy-Duty Engine Dynamometer, and the Mobile Emissions
Laboratory - can measure the chemical and physical characteristics
of emissions and provide fuel economy impacts on a variety of
engines and after-market devices, additives, lubricants, and
engine treatment systems. All three facilities have had
their operations and QA/QC methods approved by the California Air
Resources Board (ARB).
Vehicle Emissions Research Lab (VERL)
The Vehicle Emissions Research Lab (VERL), a rolling chassis
dynamometer, is ARB-approved and EPA-recognized for emissions
testing of light- and medium-duty vehicles. It is capable of
accurately measuring vehicle emissions during dynamic, high speed
accelerations and decelerations.
Heavy-Duty
Engine Dynamometer
CE-CERT's Heavy-Duty Engine Dynamometer is designed to CFR
specifications and has comprehensive quality assurance/control
programs. The facility can be used for fundamental research in
diesel emissions and advanced diesel technologies, as well as
certification of alternative diesel fuels and verification of
diesel after-treatment devices. In normal use, the dynamometer is
linked with the Mobile Emissions Laboratory (see below).
Mobile
Emissions Laboratory
The Mobile Emissions Laboratory - housed in a 53-foot
tractor trailer - was developed by CE-CERT to directly measure both
gaseous and PM emissions with instruments meeting federal standards
during actual vehicle operations, providing a clearer picture of
emissions under conditions representative of "real-world"
driving.
Associate Research Engineer: Dr. Tom Durbin
Web site: http://www.cert.ucr.edu/
Phone: (951)
781-5794
Central
Facility for Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis
This facility serves as a
research, service and consulting laboratory for microscopic
characterization of organic and inorganic materials, biological
tissue and minerals applying electron beam techniques. Available
instruments include an FEI CM300 TEM, an FEI Tecnai12 TEM, and an
FEI XL30 SEM. State-of-the-art ancillary equipment supports wide
range of essential sample preparation techniques. Facility
personnel provide support, collaborative assistance, training and
service to UCR faculty investigators and students, as well as
clients in academia, government and industry in the Southern
California area. Formal academic classes in electron microscopy are
also offered to UCR students.
Academic Coordinator: Dr. Krassimir N.
Bozhilov
Web site: http://micron.ucr.edu/
Phone: (951) 827-2998
ENSC Group
Instrumentation Facility
The department is equipped to
conduct a wide variety of research and teaching activities related
to environmental and soil and water sciences.
Web site: http://www.envisci.ucr.edu/about/facilities.html
Genomics Core
Instrumentation Facility
Institute for Integrative Genome Biology
The Core Instrumentation
Facility contains a variety of tools supporting research in
genomics and gene expression. The backbone of the facility is a
medium throughput DNA sequencing operation, with instrumentation
including an ABI 3730xl, a 96-capillary instrument, as well as a
16-capillary electrophoresis instrument from Applied Biosystems
currently used for analysis of DNA fragments such as
microsatellites. The genomics core supports handling of libraries
for small genome and EST projects with the use of a Genetix QPIX
for automated colony picking and inoculation of culture medium, two
GeneMachine Hi-Gro incubators for overnight culture of bacteria in
deep-well microtiter plates and two liquid-handling robots for
extracting recombinant plasmids from host cells in 96-well format.
Liquid-handling robots are also used in setting up the PCR
reactions associated with DNA sequencing. Also available are a
high-end microarray maker for spotting cDNAs or PCR products and an
associated scanner with three lasers and a complement of emission
filters (ScanArray Express), an Affymetrix GeneChip System
(hybridization oven, fluidics station and scanner), a
phosphorimager/fluorescence imager (Typhoon 9410) and a
flow-cytometer/high-speed cell sorter (BD FACSAria).
Academic Coordinator: Dr. Timothy Kingan
Web site: http://www.cif.ucr.edu/
Phone: (951) 827-3707
Microscopy and Imaging
Core Facility
Center for Plant Cell Biology
Confocal microscopy, a robust technology for querying the
structure and function of living cells, has found a variety of
applications in the biological sciences, such as high throughput
imaging of live cells. The microscopy and imaging core facility in
the UCR Center for Plant Cell Biology provides a comprehensive
suite of confocal microscopes, with a wide selection of special
features which make it easier to navigate specimen space, and
capture the most important data. Five confocal systems are
available: a Leica TCS SP2 with 9 laser lines; a Zeiss LSM510 with
5 laser lines for top resolution imaging; a Meridian Insight Point
real-time ocular viewing microscope; a Yokogawa spinning disc
system with seven laser lines for video rate data capture; and an
Atto/BD Pathway HT system for automated imaging and high throughput
screening. The facility also has a gene gun, a laser ablation
system, a variety of fluorescence scopes, microtomes, fluid
handling robots and imaging analysis workstations.
Academic Coordinator: Dr. David Carter
Web site: http://www.cepceb.ucr.edu/facilities/facilities.htm#micro
Phone: (951) 827-
2694
Nanofabrication Facility
Center for Nanoscale Science and
Engineering
The Nanofabrication Cleanroom, operated by the Center for
Nanoscale Science and Engineering, offers expertise in micro- and
nano-technology fabrication equipment, as well as professionally
managed use of clean room facilities. An hourly fee allows use of
microscopes, fume hoods, chemical processing, photolithography, dry
etching, RTA, atomic force microscopy, profilometer, parametric
circuit analyzer, confocal microscope, ellipsometer, and filmetrics
dialectric film characterization. More complicated equipment, such
as metal evaporators, e-beam lithography and CVD furnace require
specialized training and an additional usage fee. Focused Ion Beam
services are also available. Deposition sources currently available
include aluminum, titanium, chrome, gold, platinum, palladium and
nickel. Sputter targets provided are aluminum, silicon and
titanium. Clean room supplies, garments and safety equipment are
also provided by the lab. Users are asked to furnish their own
substrates. Located on the first floor of the Bourns Hall "B" wing,
the facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
NanoFab Cleanroom Manager: Mark Heiden
Website: http://www.engr.ucr.edu/cnse/
Phone: (951) 827-2551
Plant
Transformation Research Center
Department of Botany & Plant Sciences
The Plant Transformation Research Center is focused on efficient
procedures for transforming plants, including species of economic
interest to the California agricultural industry and model systems
used to investigate gene function. The Center provides
cost-effective access to biochemical and molecular methods utilized
in the analysis of genetically modified plants. It is equipped with
two Biosafety Level 2 greenhouses, a computer-controlled
Arabidopsis growth facility, three tissue culture rooms, a CCD
camera for luciferase detection in transgenic plants, and an
epifluoresence optical microscope equipped for GFP analysis of
cells and tissues, as well as additional equipment for molecular
biology, image analyses, and genetic technologies. The scientific
staff has extensive experience in working with in vitro
plant tissue culture and micropropagation, molecular biology and
plant genetic transformation techniques.
Director: Dr. Martha L.
Orozco
Web site: http://ptrc.ucr.edu/index.html
Phone: (951) 827-2885
Statistical
Consulting Collaboratory
Computing and Communications, Colleges of Natural &
Agricultural Sciences and of Humanities, Arts & Social
Sciences
The UCR Statistical Consulting Collaboratory specializes in
statistical consulting and modeling, providing clients with
customized statistical analyses to support decision-making in a
variety of fields, such as survey sampling, quality control,
product design, and marketing. The Collaboratory maintains a
variety of software packages for quantitative/statistical analysis
and employs a fulltime manager and both graduate and undergraduate
students who are versed in a variety of statistical methodologies
and supported software packages to perform quantitative
examinations on problems of interest to industry. As a public
service, the center also provides answers to relatively simple
statistical questions through its "Ask a Statistician" service.
Director: Prof. Dan Jeske
Web site: http://www.collaboratory.ucr.edu/
Phone: (951) 827-3014
W.M. Keck Proteomics
Laboratory
Center for Plant Cell Biology
Mass spectrometry (MS) based approaches have emerged as a major
tool in proteomics research for characterization of cellular
proteins. The proteomics technology core is equipped with
state-of-the-art mass spectrometers such as Q-TOF and Q-STAR that
are complementary in system configuration for high sequence
coverage and can perform high throughput peptide sequence analysis
with high sensitivity and mass accuracy. The MS core lab can assist
researchers in studies of protein profiling, quantitative and
functional proteomics, protein modifications, and cellular protein
complexes. Major instruments include: QSTAR XL oMALDI MS/MS system
(Applied Biosystems), Q-TOF ESI MS/MS system (Waters), LC-MALDIprep
(Waters), and a 2D-gel system for protein separation
(Pharmacia).
Academic Coordinator: Dr. Songqin Pan
Web site: http://www.cepceb.ucr.edu/facilities/facilities.htm#pro
Phone: (951) 827-7114