Special Facilities

BIOMEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING LABORATORY (BIPL)

The Biomedical Image Processing Laboratory (BIPL) is primarily a self-service facility housed within the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroanatomy (CBN) in the Medical School that provides researchers with direct access to contemporary digital imaging technology in the form of equipment and workstations not easily obtained by individual laboratories. Within a centralized location, BIPL provides high quality and high resolution image acquisition, image analysis, and hard copy. The facility also provides training on equipment and on software applications; as well as 35mm slide, photographic, graphic design (web pages, posters, cover photographs), and scientific services to the University community and outside agencies.

CENTER FOR NEUROSCIENTIFIC DATABASES

The Medical School and the Department of Computer Science are building a collaborative distributed, multi-modal database of raw experimental data and derived results to serve neuroscientists around the world.

LABORATORY FOR COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (LCS&E)

Researchers from our Department use the Silicon Graphics workstations and multiprocessor servers at LCS&E for 3-D visualization of data and simulation of neuronal function.

THE MINNESOTA SUPERCOMPUTER INSTITUTE (MSI)

This facility provides access to state-of-the-art supercomputers manufactured in Minnesota by Cray Research, Control Data Corporation, and ETA Systems. High-speed links to this system enhance the computational power available for creating molecular models and handling large data bases. MSI provides valuable supercomputer and workstation access to our researchers.

ADDICTIVE DISEASE RESEARCH AT MINNESOTA (ADRAM)

An interdisciplinary program aimed at studying the serious healthcare problem of addictive disease.

THE MICROCHEMICAL FACILITY OF THE INSTITUTE OF HUMAN GENETICS

This facility provides automated instrumentation and expertise to perform a number of tasks indispensable to modern research with biological macromolecules. These tasks include analysis of amino acid composition of proteins, DNA sequencing of novel genes, and the synthesis of peptides and oligonucleotides.