Biomedical ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT FACILITIES

Biomedical ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT FACILITIES

BME Shared Facilities:

List of shared equipment available: ( on

GelDocEZImager / Automated gel imaging instrument for DNA gels and ﬂuorescence imaging on a couple of diﬀerent ﬁlteroptions.
UPLC / Usedinbiomolecule analysiswithaﬂow-‐through needleinjectorandquarternar solventdeliverysystem.Thismachineisop8mizedfortheanalysisofprotein,pep8des,nucleicacids,andglycansusing ion exchange, sizeexclusion, hydrophilic interaction,orreversed phase.
Ultracentrifuge / This centrifuge delivers fast, eﬃcient separations from samples as small as 175 µl up to 32.4mL at speeds up to 150,000 RPM and more than 1,000,000 x g.
SlideScanner / Digitalizes slide images to scan, view and share on a cloud server.
PlateReader / Usedforcommon detec8onofabsorbance, ﬂuorescence intensity, luminescence, 8me-‐resolvedﬂuorescence, andﬂuorescence polariza8onofsamplesinwellplates.
UVTransilluminators / Provide brilliant back illumina8on of transparent materials placed on ﬁlter area designed toilluminate andincreaseﬂuorescence.
NIElvisII+Boards / Hands-‐on design and prototyping plaVorm with an oscilloscope, digital multimeter, function generator, variablepowersupply,andBodeanalyzer.
GravographCO2laser / Thislaserchamber systemisusedforbasiccuXng/etchingofsamples.
ExcimerLaser / Aformofultraviolet laserofthenoblegashalidetypeusedformicromachining.
Lyophilizers / Benchtop freezedryerusedtofreezethematerialandreducethesurrounding pressuresothatthefrozenwaterwillsublimate fromsolidphasetogasphase.ThisismostoZen usedinsamplesthatwill beimagedunderSEMandneedtopreserve theirstructure.
Rheometer / Used to ﬁnd stress, strain, modulus, or viscosity data using a cone and plate with set parameters suchasshear,temperature, oscilla8on,etc.
Goniometer / Contact angle measurements in order to know surface proper8es of materials when interactingwithwater.
SpuIer coater / Used to coat non-‐conducting samples with a conduc8ve gold layer for standard SEM imaging
UV-‐Vis / Miniature ﬁberopticspectrometer preconﬁgured for200-‐850nm.
SpinCoater / Usedtodeposituniformthinﬁlmstoﬂatsubstrates bywayofspinning.
EthyleneOxideSterilizer / Used for sterilization of medical devices including plas8c and heat sensi8ve materials by exposing toethylene oxidegas.
Autoclaves / Pressurechamber usedtosterilizeequipment andsuppliesbysubjec8ngtohighpressuresaturated steam.
CO2 incubators / Chamber used to grow and maintain cell cultures at a certain temperature and carbon
dioxide level.
Scanning Electron Microscope / The surface of a specimen is scanned by a beam of electrons that are reﬂected by a
secondary or backscattered detector to form an image.
Atomic Force Microscope / Used for mapping atomic-‐scale topography of a surface by means of a repulsive electronic force between the surface and 8p of a probe moving over a surface.
Confocal Microscope / Enables reconstruc8on of three-‐dimensional structures from obtained images by use of laser scanning (also contains brightfield and ﬂuorescent options).
Fluorescent Microscope / Uses ﬂuroescence and phosphorescence of a substance instead of reﬂection and
absorption.
Instron / Mechanical testing of samples using 1000N load cell to test compression and tension.
Test Resources Actuator/Axial Torsion Systems / Mechanical testing system capable of uniaxial as well as torsional tes8ng with
environmental chamber option.
Flow System / Mock artery circulation system setup.
DMA / Dynamic Mechanical Analysis measures mechanical proper8es of materials as func8on of
8me, temperature, and frequency. (dual/single can8lever, 3-‐point bending, tension,
compression, shear)
Plasma Cleaner / Remove organic contaminants, render surfaces hydrophilic, promote adhesion, etc using O2 chemical reactions in a chamber.
QCM / Quartz crystal microbalance measures the frequency and mass of a sample. The crystal has a certain frequency and as proteins s8ck to the crystal they will change this value which will correlate to the mass.
DSC / Diﬀerential scanning calorimetry uses heat transfer to measure properties of a sample
such as thermal stability and heat capacity.
Ellipsometer / For routine measurements of ﬁlm thickness and refractive index by measuring change in polarization as light reﬂects or transmits.
TGA / Thermogravimetric Analysis measures weight changes of a sample as function of time or temperature under a controlled atmosphere (under nitrogen). Usually for measuring thermal stability or composition.
FTIR / Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to measure absorption and transmission peaks of the components in a sample.
Malvern Zetasizer / Used to measure size (through dynamic light scattering) and zeta potential of
nanoparticles in solution.
Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis / Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis visualizes and analyzes par8cles in liquids using the relationship between Brownian motion to particle size by scattering laser light and recording video for analysis.
Hotplate/Stirrers
Vortex Mixers
Vacuum Ovens
Centrifuges
Analytical Balances
Hot water baths
UV cure box
DI water
Dishwasher

Interdisciplinary Manufacturing Facility (IMF)

Established through TAMU research development funds, this shared facility represents TAMU Engineering, Architecture, Veterinary Medicine, Science, and the Health Science Center. Housed in a 5000 sq. ft. space in the Emerging Technologies Building, this facility is equipped with a hybrid manufacturing setup 3D printer and a 3D-bioplotter. TheHybrid Manufacturing printer is perhaps the only platform that allows “sculpting” objects by a concurrent combination of material deposition (through laser sintering), removal (machining) and shaping (forming). It is capable of working with multiple metals simultaneously, being able to mix and match four simultaneous metallic powders to create complex shapes and combinations of materials that can be precisely tailored locally to create next-generation artifacts. One of the most important and promising recent advancements at the intersection of medicine and engineering is the ability to “print” tissues and organs. The 3D-Bioplotter® can fabricate scaffolds using a wide range of materials including soft hydrogels over polymer melts, and hard ceramics. The system is designed to support the development of tissues and devices vital to the success of regenerative therapies, controlled drug release, and patient-specific implants.

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research Laboratories(

Multi-User TAMU Facilities:

Microscopy & Imaging Center (MIC)

The mission of the Microscopy & Imaging Center (MIC) isto provide current and emerging technologies for teaching and research involving microscopy and imaging in Life and Physical Sciences on the Texas A&M campus and beyond, training and support services for microscopy, sample preparation, in situ elemental/molecular analyses, as well as digital image analysis and processing. This facility promotes cutting edge research in basic and applied sciences through research and development activities, as well as qualitytraining and educationthrough individual training, short courses and formal courses that can be taken for credit.

Instruments available at the MIC include:

Light Microscopy
Zeiss Axiophot
Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope
Multiphoton non-linear optical microscope
Deconvolution
Nikon Stereo Photo Microscope
Scanning Electron Microscopy
FEI Quanta 600 FE-SEM
Tescan Vega3 SEM
Zyvex S100 Nanomanipulator

Transmission Electron Microscopy
FEI Tecnai G2F20FE Cryo-TEM
FEI Tecnai G2F20ST FE-TEM - Materials
JEOL 1200 EX TEM
JEOL JEM-2010 TEM
Analog & Digital Image Analysis
Ancillary Equipment
Correlative Light and Electron Cryo-Microscopy
FEI cryo-fluorescence stage on the Olympus microscope

Materials Characterization Facility

The Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) atTexas A&M Universityis a multi-user facility located in the Frederick E. Giesecke Engineering Research Building (GERB) housing the fabrication and characterization instrumentation essential for the development, understanding, and study of new materials and devices.Specific instrumentation available include:

Electron Microscopy:

Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM)(JEOL JSM-7500F),
Lyra Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) with an EDS Microanalysis System,
Fera Focused Ion Beam-Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) with EBSD and Integrated Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS), and
Electron microprobe with Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS)

Thermal and Electrical Analysis

Thermal mechanical analysis (TMA)
Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA)
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
Dielectric spectroscopy
Hot Disc thermal conductivity analysis

Surface Analysis

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)/Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS)
MultiMode Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Nanoindenter
Dip pen nanolithography
Imaging ellipsometer
Cameca ion microprobe
Icon Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

Fabrication

Electron beam deposition chamber

Spectroscopy and Microscopy

Spectrofluorometer
UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer
Raman confocal microscope
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer
Fluorescent confocal microscope

Laboratory for Biological Mass Spectrometry (LBMS) ( – Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility (Dept. of Chemistry) ( and Center for Mass Spectrometry (ILSB) (

TAMU High Performance Research Computing

This resource for research and discovery has four available clusters for faculty research:

(1)Ada is a 17,340-core IBM/Lenovo commodity cluster with nodes based mostly on Intel's 64-bit 10-core IvyBridge processors. In addition to the 852 compute nodes, there are 8 login nodes, each with 256 GB of memory and GPUs or Phi coprocessors per node.

(2)Crick is a 368-core IBM Power7+ BigData cluster with nodes based on IBM's 64-bit 16-core Power7+ processors. Included in the 23 nodes are 1 BigSQL node with 256GB of memory per node and 14TB (raw) of storage and 22 data nodes with 14TB (raw) storage for GPFS-FPO and local caching. Crick is primarily used for big data analytics. In addition to these nodes are 2 login nodes with 128GB of memory per node,

(3)Curie is an 768-core IBM Power7+ cluster with nodes based on IBM's 64-bit 16-core Power7+ processors. In addition to the 48 nodes are 2 login nodes with 256GB of memory per node. Curie's file system and batch scheduler are shared with Ada cluster.

(4)LoneStar5 is the latest cluster hosted by the Texas Advanced computing Center. Jointly funded by the University of Texas System, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University, it provides additional resources to TAMU researchers. LoneStar5 has: 252 Cray XC40 compute nodes, each with two 12-core Intel® Xeon® processing cores for a total of 30,048 compute cores; 2 large memory compute nodes, each with 1TB memory; 8 large memory compute nodes, each with 512GB memory; 16 Nodes with NVIDIA K-40 GPUs; 5 Petabyte DataDirect Networks storage system; and Cray-developed Aries interconnect.

The HPRC group provides its users with access to several specially configured "HPRC Lab" Linux workstations at two separate locations on the TAMU campus, and can assist with: debugging, code optimization and parallelization, batch processing, and collaborative advanced program support.

ENGINEERING INNOVATION CENTER (EIC)( The EIC is an open space where engineering students have access to state-of-the-art prototyping tools, equipment, material and support staff.Through partnerships with industry and non-profit sponsors, the EIC is an environment where concepts become solutions to real world problems and student teams come together to build new prototypes, acquire new skills and develop new relationships. The facility provides prototyping and design workspace (7000 sq. ft.), a fabrications center (6600 sq. ft.), engineering analysis lab, and conference and green rooms (including 3 conference rooms, 2 classrooms, computer lab, fume hood/wet lab, and a digital video recording equipment and green recording room).

TAMU Center for Chemical Characterization and Analysis (CCCA), Department of Chemistry

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility - The NMR Facility includes 10 superconducting spectrometer magnet systems, 4 LINUX workstations dedicated to data processing, and 3 full time staff to support them with maintenance, user training, and spectroscopic service. Although this facility is physically housed within the Chemistry Department, it provides services to the entire campus community.

X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory - The lab maintains 3 Micro-focus IuS sources, a Venture CMOS, QUEST CMOS, three Bruker single-crystal APEXii CCD Diffractometers, 1 Bruker GADDS/Histar diffractometer, and 3 Bruker powder diffractometers. The X-ray Diffraction Laboratory is staffed by two full-time Ph.D. level scientists.

Laboratory for Biological Mass Spectrometry –

Chemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility - The services available include analyses of compounds ranging from small organic molecules to macromolecules including proteins, oligonucleotides, polymers and dendrimers. Instruments available include: Applied Biosystems PE SCIEX QSTAR; Thermo Scientific DSQ II GCMS; and Thermo Scientific LCQ-DECA

Center for Mass Spectrometry - is dedicated to providing cutting-edge technology and expertise for the characterization of molecules to fulfill the needs of researchers at TAMU. Mass spectrometry (MS) plays an increasingly important role in molecular level research, and it is central to ‘omics’ research, i.e., petroleomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, glycomics, etc and the CMS provides expert staff with modern instrumentation to complete these tasks .Instruments available include: Thermo Scientific Fusion; Bruker 9.4T FT-ICR MS; MDS-Sciex 4000 Qtrap; and Applied Biosystems 4800+ MALDI TOF/TOF MS.

Elemental Analysis - The laboratory provides research support in the area of elemental and trace analysis as well as service analyses to TAMU users, other university and government agencies and private industry. It is unique in that it features fast neutron activation analysis (FNAA) capabilities in addition to thermal instrumental neutron activation (INAA) using the University's Nuclear Science Center 1 MW TRIGA research reactor. In addition, the laboratory has recently added inductively-coupled plasma - mass spectrometry to its stable of facilities. The ICP-MS has been fitted with both conventional sample introduction hardware for solution work as well as a 213 nm laser ablation system for studying solids and surfaces.

AggieFab

AggieFab Nanofabrication Cleanroom: The AggieFab at Texas A&M is a 5000 sq. ft. class 100 and 1000 cleanroom open to the campus community as a core facility. The facility is currently located in the Jack E. Brown building, but will be soon moved to the newly built GERB. The facility houses state of the art micro and nano fabrication equipments (mask aligner, spinner, metal evaporator, RIE, PECVD, oxidation/diffusion furnaces, wire bonder, dicing saw, polisher) and various analysis equipments (microscope, profilometers, ellipsometer, probe station). The facility has multiple chemical hoods and laminar hoods and is equipped with in-house de-ionized water, vacuum, and nitrogen. Research equipments include an electron beam lithography system (Tescan Mira 3 EBL), two mask aligners (MJB-3, MA-6, Karl Suss Microtech), two spin coaters, five electron beam evaporators (four Lesker PVD75 series, Temescale Ebeam evaporator), a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD, Unaxis 790) system, a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD, MTI RTP) system, four dry etching systems (STS Multiplex ICP etch system with Bosch Process, Oxford Plasmalab 100 ICP RIE, Oxford Plasmalab 80 metal etch, Oxford Plasmalab 80 dielectric etch), two polishers, two profilometers (Bruker DektakXT), a thin film analysis tool (Ocean Optics NanoCalc DUV), a dicing saw, a wire bonder (Kulicke & Soffa 4500), an O2 plasma asher, four oxidation/diffusion furnaces, multiple hot plates, ovens, and chemical hoods. Dr. Han has full access to this facility with multiple postdoctoral researchers and graduate students fully trained to use all equipment needed for this project.

MICRO/NANO MANUFACTURING LABORATORY ( is directed by Dr. Wayne Nguyen P. Hung. The 1556 ft2 Micro/nano Laboratory (μnM Lab) is part of the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at TAMU. Its vision is to (i) serve as the key center for micro/nano manufacturing at TAMU, and (ii) to integrate TAMU with national micro/ nano manufacturing network. The missions of μnM lab are to provide expertise and initiate synergistic collaboration between various departments at TAMU, industry, and international institutions and also to inspire and prepare our students for further study in nanotechnology as well as to expose local high school teachers with the state-of-the-art micro/nano manufacturing technology. μnM Lab focuses to developing new technologies to fabricate 3D micro/nano components using novel materials such as super alloys, engineering polymers, electroactive polymers, and nanocomposites for engineering applications. A dedicated team of undergraduate and graduate students and faculty are working together in this group to develop innovative technologies using micro-machining, micro electrical discharged machining, laser micro machining/welding, micro-molding, investment micro-casting, micro-extrusion, microassembly, and focused ion sputtering. The group has extensive research collaborations with industries and faculties across the university as well as with renowned research institutions in Mexico and Singapore.

Laboratory Animal Resources and Research (LARR) – College of Veterinary Medicine, Comparative Medicine Program ( The Comparative Medicine Program (CMP) is the centrally administered support service for animal research and teaching programs at Texas A&M University, College Station. The program's facilities and services are available for all Texas A&M campus affiliated faculty, staff, and students who have been approved to conduct animal research by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). CMP is accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) through its affiliation with other AAALAC-accredited Texas A&M programs.

CMP facilities offer housing and care for most standard laboratory animals. Specialized housing can be provided for biohazard projects and hazardous chemical projects. Varying degrees of animal isolation are available. Housing for large animal species is limited; however, various other campus animal care facilities can provide housing for large animals.CMP also offers a variety of services to institutional personnel.

Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS) ( - The Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS) provides large animal Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and translational research studies with unique access to expertise in all major medical and scientific disciplines including surgery, biomedical engineering, advanced imaging, pathology, radiography, interventional cardiology, neurology, animal behavior, chemistry, and engineering.

With unique resources and collaboration with the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, TIPS facilitates the inclusion of animals with naturally occurring disease as viable research models. TIPS provides unique opportunities to develop new therapeutics in the fields of oncology, cardiology, immunology, endocrinology, and an array of genetic disorders common to humans and companion animals.

TheTIPS state-of-the-art 112,000 square-foot facility is an exceptional setting for GLP or non-GLP studies and physcian training utilizing large animals and includes:

Animal Housing -240 individual large animal housing, plus additional long-term housing with barn and pasture support
GLP compliant clinical pathology laboratory
Three 600 square-foot surgical suites, plus a hybrid imaging suite
Conference rooms
Sponsor work rooms
Large 150person auditorium for meetings/training
Advanced imaging facilities including an MRI/Interventional suite equipped with a 3T MRI and fluoroscopy, 128 slice PET/CT

Sponsor workrooms are designed for privacy and equipped with full length polyvision glass, wifi, large split screen flat panel monitors for viewing from the surgical suite's headcam, light cam, room cam, and digital monitoring equipment.