Research Infrastructure

The broad range of services is reflected in the facilities that are currently available for our researchers and external partners:

Bioimaging Facility

The Bioimaging Facility team supports cell biologists by providing a number of state-of-the-art microscopes and flow cytometry equipment. Currently, eight confocal microscopes, two climatised fluorescent microscopes, two TIRF microscopes, a spinning disc/laser microdissection microscope, a spinning disc/multiangle TIRF/FRAP microscope, two multiphoton microscopes with portable multichannel FLIM detector, a probing atomic-force microscope, a SPIM, a neuron tracking microscope (Neurolucida) and a bioluminescence imaging box are available. The facility also supports Fluorescence-assisted cells sorting services (FACS), image analysis and optical development projects.

Electron Microscopy Facility

The Electronic Microscopy Facility assists scientists in obtaining their research objectives. It ensures efficient utilization of all equipment, provides technical support, training and consultation together with the development of unique sample preparation techniques.

Library

Our own library provides access to a vast amount of online and printed publications, as well as support for the procurement of titles not yet in the catalog. Of course, it is also responsible for the archiving of IST Austria’s own publications.

Life Science Facility

The Life Science Facility at IST Austria supports experimental biologists in their research work.

The main objectives of the facility are:

• Provide a laboratory infrastructure for wet lab biological sciences (such as tissue culture facilities, cold storage devices and histology equipment). This enables the scientists to apply a brought spectrum of standard and advanced technologies in their work.
• Provide best possible laboratory and surrounding conditions to allow the scientists to focus on their research work as much as possible.
• Provide the necessary infrastructure that enables the scientists to ensure compliance of their work with the current Austrian legislation.
• Provide the necessary means to enable safe working conditions within the laboratories.
• Supply experimental resources (media, animals, plants, etc) at a consistently high level to allow the scientists to focus on their scientific questions as much as possible.

Miba Machine Shop

The Miba Machine Shop produces and provides special non-conventional mechanical and electronic equipment for all experimental groups and especially for the neuroscience researchers. Complete technical solutions that may consist of several products are offered in case of non-standard experiments.

Miba Machine Shop is equipped with CNC milling machines, a CNC lathe machine, grinding and buffing machine. Among the high-end machines available are 3D printers from 3DSystems. 3D printing technology is rather new; due to its high precision, it is applicable for small details with complex construction, used for example for micro drive production.

Nanofabrication Facility

Our Nanofabrication Facility has opened its cleanroom in Q1 2017. It provides a cleanroom space of 450 sqm of new ISO 7 (class 10,000) and ISO 6 (class 1,000), as well as ISO 5 (class 100) in specific areas – all equipped with  state of the art nanofabrication facilities.

In general, the Nanofabrication Facility provides tools to researchers and students to support them in their research. Furthermore, it develops, optimizes and maintains micro- and nanofabrication processes.

Preclinical Facility

The Preclinical Facility (PCF) supports all life scientists using laboratory rodents for their research.

All animals in the Facility are strictly kept according to the valid National and European law regulation and fulfill international recommendations and demands in terms of animal health, genetic monitoring and animal welfare.

Additionally IST Austria commits to the 3Rs principle for ethical use of animals in order to promote the most dignified and respectful practice in dealing with animals in connection with scientific research.

Scientific Computing

This Scientific Computing Service Unit supports our scientists for any scientific computing needs they may have. Its main service is the High Performance Computing (HPC) Cluster. Additionally, procurement and licensing services for scientific software are provided. The Scientific Computing Unit is in contact with the VSC, the cluster for academic and research institutes in Austria, for which it can provide access to resources and support.