Officials of Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Nikon Instruments Inc. last week celebrated the opening of the Vanderbilt Nikon Center of Excellence, which features state-of-the-art microscopy for live-cell imaging.
Administratively part of Vanderbilt University’s Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR), the facility is one of only six Nikon Centers of Excellence in the United States.
“It’s going to be a huge help to scientists at Vanderbilt,” said Ian Macara, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. The department provided most of the funding for the new center, located on the second floor of Medical Center North.
Lawrence Marnett, Ph.D., dean of Basic Sciences in the School of Medicine, said the center reflects Vanderbilt’s history of investing in “frontier technologies” in the biomedical sciences. “It’s very rare to get an opportunity to increase your capability at a quantum level at one time,” he added.
“We’re very proud to have Vanderbilt as a partner in this,” said Nikon Strategic Sales Manager Andrew Davis. In addition to providing technical support, Nikon engineers will work with Vanderbilt scientists to “accelerate solutions” to their research challenges, he said.
Macara and Marnett thanked Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of VUMC and Dean of the School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Provost Susan Wente, Ph.D., CISR Director Sam Wells, Ph.D., Scientific Director Matthew Tyska, Ph.D., and the Nikon team for their roles in the center’s creation.
For more information, contact senior research specialist Bryan Millis, Ph.D., at bryan.a.millis@vanderbilt.edu or 615-875-8339.