Microscopy

The IMB Advanced Microscopy Facility (IMB AMF) supports cancer research, cell and developmental biology, and cross-disciplinary studies spanning molecular mechanisms to translational applications. The facility houses cutting-edge imaging platforms—including widefield, confocal, multi-photon, super-resolution, spinning disk, and light sheet systems—enabling advanced modalities such as TIRF, FRET, STED, SHG/THG, and FLIM for detailed exploration of cell behaviour and microenvironments. Facility staff offer training, expert consultation, image analysis support, and troubleshooting for lab-based systems, fostering collaboration and accelerating research outcomes.

Housed within the IMB AMF, the ACRF Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility is a nation-leading facility which enables researchers at IMB to make significant contributions to the global understanding of cellular pathogenesis drivers, mechanisms of tissue invasion and determinants of patient outcomes at the levels of function and phenotype. Leading discoveries emerging from research at IMB are having a major impact at the fundamental single protein level through to medical relevance and application, aided by advanced microscopy.

The ACRF Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility is the product of 20 years of support from the ACRF, with a road map to provide emerging imaging techniques to facilitate the scientific research, and providing the support to analyse the images. In 2004, ACRF awarded $1.2 mil was awarded to purchase two Zeiss 510 confocal microscopes. In 2008, ACRF awarded $2.5 mil to purchase two Zeiss 710 confocal microscopes, one GE Deltavision microscope and high performance computing (HPC) for image analysis. Most recently in 2017, ACRF awarded $2.3 mil to the IMB Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility (CUFF) to purchase one 3i Lattice Light Sheet, one Leica Super resolution microscope and cluster computers for image analysis.

The ACRF Cancer Ultrastructure and Function Facility is an effective conduit for research from cancer targets to drug discovery programs and translational studies. It represents the culmination of our multidisciplinary efforts of observing phenotype from molecules in cells to complex microsystems. We now appreciate the etiology of cancer is impacted by factors not readily analysed by genomics alone, notably tumour cell heterogeneity and the impact of the microenvironment. Analyzing the behaviour of cancer cells in vitro and of tumours in situ is now made possible by recent, revolutionary and complementary advances in optical microscopy and electron microscopy that provide the opportunity to directly assess cancer cell function at unprecedented resolution, using engineered cell systems, animal models, tumours and organs. The advanced imaging offered in the facility will help to translate research findings much more rapidly by moving seamlessly between levels of resolution (single molecule to whole live organism).