Cellular Imaging Facility Core

The Cellular Imaging Facility Core (CIFC) supports the mission of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) to facilitate and implement innovative research aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying environmental health science (EHS) risks and disease among people living in arid environments by aiding and enhancing the research efforts of Center members through advanced capabilities to visualize, quantitate, and interpret structural and in situ molecular alterations in tissues and cells following exposure to environmental toxicants. Importantly, the CIFC ensures the accessibility of microscopy and specialized imaging techniques, particularly for investigators, staff, and students lacking extensive microscopy experience. To support SWEHSC investigators, the CIFC provides personalized training and technical assistance in the use of the affiliated facilities and instrumentation at no additional cost to Center members and their staff. Likewise, the CIFC ensures that Center members and their labs have state-of-the art equipment and techniques at their disposal, and that the labs are provided with the relevant scientific expertise and training to obtain and interpret their data. The CIFC is engaged in all aspects of a study and assists users with experimental design, technical procedures, instrument optimization and troubleshooting, data analysis, and the final interpretation of results, including assistance in the preparation of portions of manuscripts and/or grant applications. Finally, the CIFC encompasses a wide range of imaging techniques that are often used in combination with, or to confirm, results obtained by molecular biology, biochemical, analytical chemistry, or other techniques. The CIFC is fully integrated with other SWEHSC resources in a multipronged approach that results in the acquisition of data and information that cannot be gained by other means, and data that are necessary to fully determine the sites and modes of toxicant action.