Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

Tender description

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency notice of the University of Birmingham's intention to award a contract. The Center of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE) is a collaboration between the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham that will cement the Midlands' position as a research powerhouse for academic drug discovery. The new center will be launched with an initial investment of £10 million. It will unite a team of more than 20 leading researchers from both institutions in the quest for more effective drugs with fewer side effects to treat cardiovascular disease and cancer, while working with the pharmaceutical industry to take the treatments from bench to bedside. It will deliver globally important scientific discovery and develop the next generation of researchers with the skills to exploit new imaging techniques and facilities as a result of experience they will gain working with world-leading experts. At its core, COMPARE will harness cutting-edge developments in powerful imaging techniques that will enable the researchers to visualise what happens when a drug binds to a cell surface receptor or protein in real-time. The technology will be used to study receptors on the surface of blood vessels and other cells in the blood, which are involved in cardiovascular disease, in order to identify new ways to target the receptors and introduce a new class of cell-specific drugs. Lattice light sheet microscope The Lattice LightSheet uses ultra-thin sheets of light to image 3D cellular dynamics for hundreds of volumes at dozens of frames per second at diffraction-limited resolution and super-resolution. Invented by Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Betzig of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia. Research Campus, this microscope has been applied to biological systems spanning four orders of magnitude in space and time. An extremely sensitive primary objective coupled with a custom designed illumination system allows optical sectioning using extremely low light doses for imaging with unprecedented duration. 3D experiments previously limited by photo toxicity in just seconds or minutes can now be continued safely for hours or days. The combination of high spatiotemporal resolution, speed and sensitivity make the Lattice LightSheet the ultimate tool in a new era for living cell microscopy. The LLSM is a generational jump in imaging capability and is the next stage in the evolution of the light microscope.