Facilities That You Will Use in Your Classes and Projects
Hands-on experience working with state-of-the-art instrumentation is a hallmark of the internship program. There are a vast array of facilities to support applied and basic research at the University of Oregon. You will have the same access to instrumentation as our leading researchers and corporate partners. In addition to the impressive instrumentation available across the campus, we also have specialized facilities for each technical track that are dedicated to your classes. The research core facilities across the campus and the track-specific labs and instrumentation are described below.
UO Research Core Facilities
The University of Oregon has more than a dozen research major instrumentation facilities that support the university's research mission and the internship program. These facilities support materials and chemical analysis, rapid prototyping, microelectronics fabrication, genomics and high-performance computing to name a few. Internship students use the instrumentation in the following three facilities regularly in support of their immersive laboratory projects.
Center for Advanced Materials Characterization in Oregon
The Center for Advanced Materials Characterization in Oregon (CAMCOR) houses more than $30 million in materials characterization and fabrication equipment accessible to internship students. Specialized facilities include:
- Small molecule characterization, including state of the art NMR facilities;
- Polymer characterization;
- High-resolution electron microscopy and microanalysis;
- Focused ion beam microscopy;
- Surface analysis; and
- X-ray analysis
Students can complement the skills they learn in their technical track courses by taking more specialized instrumentation courses on CAMCOR instruments through the Advanced Microanalysis and Characterization program. Visit CAMCOR.
Genomics and Cell Characterization Facility
The Genomics and Cell Characterization Facility (GC3F) supports scientific research at the University of Oregon by offering genetic and genomic technologies. In-house services include next-generation sequencing library sample preparation, nucleic acid quantification and integrity analysis, liquid handling robotics, flow cytometry, microscopy, single cell sequencing, and short and long read sequencing. The facility currently operates an Illumina HiSeq 4000, a MiSeq, and a NextSeq 500. The NextSEQ 500 was purchased specifically for the Bioinformatics and Genomics track of the internship program. Additionally, GC3F offers PacBio sequencing on the PacBio Sequel II instrument.
Research Advanced Computing Services
Bioinformatics and Genomics projects are data and computer intensive and require far more resources than the typical laptop or desktop computer can provide. Students have access to dedicated resources, or nodes, on the university’s High Performance Computer Cluster (HPC), Talapas. Students begin using Talapas during their first week of class. Students leverage Talapas for classical bioinformatic workflows including differential gene expression analysis, single cell analysis, genome assembly, model building, statistical analysis, evolutionary tree building, etc. In addition, the Research Advanced Computing Services (RACS) team are very responsive in supporting students technical requirements and routinely deliver best practice workshops to the students.
KCGIP Technical Track Facilities
There are facilities and instrumentation dedicated to each of our focus areas that give students the unlimited access needed for the immersive laboratory experiences that make KCGIP unique.
Located within the Lokey Laboratories, the optics instructional lab is equipped with over $500,000 in equipment critical for hands-on learning including lasers, optical benches, optical devices, test equipment and metrology tools. Full details available on the optics track page.
A new polymer lab within the Knight Campus houses a suite of thermomechanical analysis instruments (DMAs, TMA, DSCs), mechanical and rheological testing (impact testers, rheometers) and molecular characterization (GPC and HPLC). Additionally, students have access to fume hoods, allowing the hands-on synthesis and derivatization of polymers. With training access to over $1M in polymer-specific equipment, students gain a significant competitive advantage when entering the marketplace. Full details available on the polymer science track page.
While on campus, students train in a dedicated 1500+ sqft microdevice fabrication lab space equipped with $1.5M worth of wafer processing and characterization tools for core course learning. Situated within the CAMCOR facilities, the semiconductor space is adjacent to an additional $20M worth of advanced characterization instruments critical in the microelectronics industry. Full details available on the photovoltaics and semiconductor processing track page.
A new synthesis lab and instrumentation center within the Knight Campus supports the development of hands-on laboratory skills and provides facilities needed for students to complete industry-inspired, team-based immersion projects. With 12 fume hoods, a GC-MS, prep and analytical HPLCs, Fluorimeter, FTIR, UV-Vis spectrometer and peripheral equipment, students gain a significant level of hands-on training in the synthesis and characterization of molecular probes. Full details available on the molecular sensors and biotechnology track page.