Bioimaging

 

The Bioimaging department of IAH is based at the Pirbright laboratory with three experienced staff who support the scientific groups in the Institute as well as undertaking their own dedicated research projects. The facilities at IAH provide a unique environment for the study of animal pathogens. Recent collaborations have included work on foot-and-mouth disease virus, African swine fever virus, rinderpest virus, bluetongue virus, the chicken parasite Eimeria tenella, Marek's disease virus, and bacteria including Burkholderia, E. coli and Salmonella.

Bioimaging facilities include five microscope systems on two sites. Pirbright Laboratory:

  • two Leica TCS SP2 confocal microscopes, one dedicated to live cell imaging
  • an FEI Tecnai 12 120kV transmission electron microscope configured for tomography (3-D image reconstruction) and cryo electron microscopy
  • a Hitachi S520 scanning electron microscope with backscattered electron detector.

Compton Laboratory:

  • a new Leica TCS SP5 with live cell imaging capability

We support these microscopes with a range of preparation equipment including a Baltec high pressure freezer, a Leica automatic freeze substitution unit, a Leica CPC slam/plunge freezer, a Leica cryo-ultramicrotome, vibrating microtome and ultramicrotome. Laser microdissection and cryostat facilities are also available on both sites.