Advanced Imaging Facility (AIF)

The Advanced Imaging Facility (AIF) is the open access light microscopy facility of the College of Life Sciences and offers a wide range of confocal and conventional fluorescence microscopes and image analysis resources. The AIF is part of the Centre for Core Biotechnology Services (CBS) and it forms together with the Electron Microscopy Facility and Histology facility the core of the imaging facilities in the college. Dr Kees Straatman is manager of the AIF.

Dr Kayoko Tanaka is academic lead for AIF to represent AIF within the college at PI level.

The AIF has annually over 100 microscope users and is open to all users of the University of Leicester, members of the other Universities of the Midlands Innovation (Aston, Birmingham, Cranfield, Keele, Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick), as well as users of other academic institutions and commercial users. Please contact the manager for additional information.

Resources

• Fluorescence, brightfield, DIC and label free imaging
• Widefield, superresolution and confocal imaging
• High throughput slide scanning/digital pathology
• 2D/3D/4D imaging
• Fixed and live cell imaging
• Multi-colour fluorescence imaging
• Multi-position imaging
• Spectral imaging
• F-techniques (FRAP, FLIP, FRET and FCS)
• High content screening
• Metaphase finding
• Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM), in collaboration with the EM Facility
• Immunohistochemistry colour imaging
• Quantitative imaging
• Image analysis and processing (ImageJ/Fiji macros, Imaris, Huygens deconvolution)
• Training and teaching
• Advice

Imaging Steering Group

AIF and imaging in general is governed by the Imaging Steering Committee, which provides oversight and decides on strategic questions regarding imaging in the College and forms a link between CLS and interested parties in other colleges in the University of Leicester. Members of the Committee:

• Dr Kayoko Tanaka (Academic lead AIF)
• Professor Andrew Hudson (Single molecule super-resolution microscopy, Chemistry)
• Dr Himanshu Kaul (Respiratory Sciences and Engineering)
• Natalie Allcock (manager EMF)
• Dr Emma Hesketh (manager Cryo-EM)
• Dr Yolanda Markaki (Molecular and Cell Biology)
• Dr Kees Straatman (manager AIF)

Publications

Acknowledgement in publications and presentations of work performed in the Advanced Imaging Facility is vital to secure support and funding necessary to maintain the facility.

If you publish work supported by the AIF, e.g. by using one or more of our microscope systems or if you had support for image or data analysis, it is obligatory to include a sentence in the acknowledgement in addition to any personal acknowledgement or co-authorship and send a reference to us. View our list of publications.

A reference example:

"We thank the Advanced Imaging Facility (RRID:SCR_020967) at the University of Leicester for support."

Please include the RRID number (Research Resource IDentifier) what is a international unique identifier allocated to the AIF.

Additionally, for some of the equipment a separate acknowledgement of the funding body is required:

• If you have used the Zeiss LSM 980 Airyscan2 system you also have to acknowledge the BBSRC grant BB/S019510/1.
• When publishing results obtained using the Akoya PhenoCycler-Fusion system you are required to acknowledge the MRC grant MR/X012107/1.
• If you have used the Zeiss Elyra 7 Lattice SIM2 system to obtain your imaging results you have to acknowledge the BBSRC grant BB/X019705/1.