VIB Bioimaging Core

   General context

High resolution, high quality Bio Imaging is increasingly important in frontline life science research. For this reason, VIB created in 2012 a multi-site core facility for state-of-the-art microscopy equipped with over € 10 M of high-end equipment and 17 expert staff members.

The VIB Bioimaging Core has specialist instrumentation for both light and electron microscopy and are developing Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM) approaches to answer complex biological questions. The cores have a diverse instrument base providing the most suitable instrumentation for any imaging need.

The VIB Bioimaging Core is a dual site facility with platforms in Ghent and Leuven and serves both academic and industrial life sciences community. The Ghent platform uses high resolution light and electron microscopy to look into cells and tissues in three dimensions. The Gent platform is embedded in the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research. The Leuven platform travels in time and studies ‘very fast’ dynamic processes in single cells. The Leuven platform is embedded in the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research.

The Electron Microscopy Platform in Leuven is associated to the VIB Bioimaging Core. The TEM activities of the Ghent platform are part of the UGent TEM Expertise Center.

   Services

The Ghent platform

A broad range of applications is present in the portfolio, covering macrososcopic imaging, confocal techniques, superresolution and electron microscopy. There is a strong focus on live cell imaging, functional imaging techniques, like FRET, FLIM and FRAP and the core also facilities several CLEM workflows. Since the core is equiped with volume EM techniques, like SBF-SEM and FIB-SEM, 3D CLEM is performed. The staff is the heart of the facility and the experts are there to consult, train and collaborate with the user for experimental design, image aquisition adn image analysis. We are hosted on the second floor of FSVM-I, and in addition to our instrument park we also have a computing center and a wet lab for specimen preparation. Our next door neighbours is the state-of-the-art VIB Flow Core.

The Leuven platform

The VIB Bioimaging Core Leuven is equipped with more than 10 different microscopes. Ranging from superresolution to confocal to the mesoscale range. We have ample solutions for quantitative imaging like slide scanning and high content screening, but also 3D whole organ imaging. The core also supports experimental design and sample preparation (clearing, staining, etc.).
We take pride in our analysis capabilities. We provide help with analysis and are equipped with several analysis computers. We have solutions for different kind of questions (e.g., single molecule tracking, 3D visualization and segmentation, colocalization, high content analysis).
In addition, the unit is equipped with high pressure freezing equipment for rapid transfer and freezing of samples, which allows a handshake between the Light Microscopy (LM) and the existing Electron Microscopy (EM) platform, which consists of two high performance TEMs, a SEM and preparatory devices. With this new equipment, the transition from LM to EM is easy and gives a complete picture of dynamic subcellular organization at nanometer resolution.

   Team

Our team consists of the following members: