HCEMM-USZ Functional Cell Biology and Immunology ACF

HCEMM-USZ Functional Cell Biology and Immunology Advanced Core Facility

Location and Equipment 

The FCBI ACF is located at the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology and Allergology at the University of Szeged, 6 Korányi fasor, 6720 Szeged. The major available techniques include conventional (wide-field, confocal) and advanced (super resolution) light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy optimized for biological samples (including array tomography and correlative light and electron microscopy), an advanced cell sorter facility and a molecular biology facility.

• Light and Electron Microscopy facility
  • Light Microscopy
    • Zeiss LSM880 laser scanning confocal microscope
    • Olympus FV10i self-contained confocal microscope
    • Olympus high throughput fluorescence cell analysis system
    • Oxford Nanoimager super resolution microscope
    • Zeiss AxioImager fluorescence microscope
  • Electron Microscopy
    • Zeiss Sigma 300 scanning electron microscope
    • RMC Powertome with ATUMtome tape collection
    • Quorum Q150R Plus rotary pumped carbon coater
    • Zeiss Axioscope fluorescence microscope
  • Cell Sorter Facility
    • BD FACS Aria Fusion
  • Molecular Biology Support
   

Services

The main goal of this ACF is to provide for high-throughput and high-resolution imaging, cell surface and intracellular marker detection as well as the possibility for sorting cells based on their expressed protein markers for cellular and immunology studies.

The ACF offers the following specific services:

• Static and dynamic imaging applications
  • standard widefield and confocal imaging of fixed samples and live cells (up to 4 wavelengths simultaneously)
  • two-colour super resolution microscopy based on STORM and PALM techniques
  • single particle tracking
  • TIRF microscopy
  • Array tomography with ATUMtome – semi-automated cutting and imaging of 100-2000 slices with a z resolution of 30-50 nm and 3D rendering of the images
  • Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) – A comparative dual (light and electron microscopy) analysis of the same specimen, which is essential for the analytical interpretation of high-resolution electron microscopy images at the cellular level.
• High-performance cell sorting and marker identification applications
  • Cell sorting and clustering from fluids and tissues
  • Marker identification.
   

Commercialization Potential

The major available techniques at the Functional Cell Biology and Immunology Advanced Core Facility (FCBI ACF) include conventional (wide-field, confocal) and advanced (super resolution) light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy optimized for biological samples (including array tomography and correlative light and electron microscopy), an advanced cell sorter facility and a molecular biology facility.  This wide variety of advanced tools empower the facility and the researchers using it to develop patentable technologies and to create licensing and commercialization opportunities. Examples of such are the following:

• New fluorescent probes and fluorescent proteins with enhanced optical and chemical properties
• Nanotechnology-based new drug delivery methods and their novel applications in translational medicine. (Nanopharmaceutics, quantum dots, synthetic polymers, dendrimers, lipoproteins, liposomes, micelles, nanoparticles, microcapsules)
• Novel diagnostic applications ( g. Disease-specific novel cell surface markers and intracellular markers)
• New optical imaging techniques and patentable hardware improvements ( g. development of a specific sample holder or stage insert)
• Development of new microscopy imaging and image analysis software modules, apps, algorithms and plugins.

As a more specific example, FCBI ACF is planning to commercialize its intracellular antibody localization expertise as a service for antibody manufacturing companies (e. g. Agrisera).