Biology Imaging Center (BIC)

Mission
Biology Imaging Center provides access, support and training in advanced light and fluorescent microscopy techniques for research groups within the department of Biology and also to groups from other institutes within and outside Utrecht. By organizing courses and individual training, the Imaging Center is strongly involved in teaching microscopy techniques to Bachelor and Master students participating in different Life Science programs in Utrecht at different levels. Another important activity of the Imaging Center is development of custom imaging methods and image analysis algorithms and making them accessible to scientific community.

Embedding in the national research infrastructure
Biology Imaging Center forms a part of Bioimaging Utrecht, which brings together microscopy-based research at the Faculty of Science, Veterinary Medicine, UMC and Hubrecht Institute, and tightly collaborates with these groups on exchanging expertise and providing access to advanced microscopy. As a part of the Bioimaging Utrecht, Biology Imaging Center participates in the Netherlands-wide NL Bioimaging Advanced Microscopy (NL BioImaging AM), which is on the National Roadmap for Large-scale Research Facilities since 2012, and is also a part of the Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences (DTL).

Microscopy techniques
Biology Imaging Center incorporates equipment and expertise on Bright field microscopy, Phase Contrast microscopy, VE-DIC microscopy, regular Wide-Field Epifluorescence microscopy, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, laser scanning  and spinning disk confocal microscopy. The advanced techniques in which the center currently specializes include multicolor live cell imaging with a high spatial and temporal resolution, 3D live imaging of thick samples using spinning disk and two-photon microscopy, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and photoactivation, photoablation, laser microdissection and super-resolution localized microscopy (PALM/STORM).

For users
Biology Imaging Center website for the users

Organization
The head of the Biology Imaging Center is Dr. Ilya Grigoriev.