The Light Microscopy Unit (LMU) of the HPI is one of the most modern and well-equipped Optical Imaging Units in Greece and a member of the Greek Bioimaging-GR Consortium and the European Light Microscopy Initiative (ELMI).
The HPI LMU is an open-access platform aiming to provide advanced Light microscopy and image analysis services to HPI, national or international academic scientists.
The aims of the Department of Animal Models for Biomedical Research (DAMBR) are the breeding, supply and use of laboratory animals for modeling human pathologies and for developing cutting-edge technologies in academic and research areas, for performing toxicological and preclinical studies in pharmaceutical industry, and for academic education. DAMBR collaborates with the groups and technological infrastructures of HPI and supports their research projects.
Flow Cytometry & Cell Sorting Unit consists of instrumentation and software capable of supporting multiple studies including phenotypical and functional analysis regarding the characterization of immune cell populations for different experimental in vitro and in vivo models, cell cycle analysis, the detection of apoptosis and cell death, cell division, metabolic studies etc., as well as cell sorting studies, under pathogen-free conditions, for downstream applications, e.g. RNA-seq analysis. The Unit’s equipment consists of BD FACSCALIBUR 4CS IVD, BD FACSARIA Ι and BD FACSMelody installed in a Biological Safety Cabinet class II. FACS analysis unit provides support in users training, protocols design, sample analysis and results interpretation.
The Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Unit (HSCU) specializes in:
- Human embryonic stem cell (ESC) culture, maintenance and differentiation
- Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from somatic cells using cell reprogramming technologies
- Directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (ESC, iPSC) for the development of 2D and 3D cellular systems for modeling brain development and pathology.
The HSCU, in the context of collaborative projects or service contracts, offers:
Preclinical drug evaluation in human iPSC-based models of neurodegenerative diseases
- Generation of iPSC
- Development of iPSC-derived cellular systems
- Training in human stem cell culture principles, maintenance, and directed differentiation
- Training in the analysis of iPSC-derived cellular systems of human neurodegenerative diseases
- Consultancy for project development, protocol establishment, experimental design, troubleshooting
The Biotechnology Unit has extensive know-how on the production of soluble and membrane bound proteins in heterologous expression systems for structural and functional studies and is a member of the INSPIRED research infrastructure.
The currently available expression systems include bacterial, yeast, insect & mammalian cell systems. Large-scale production of proteins expressed in yeast and bacteria cells can be conducted in the fermenter unit.
Expressed recombinant proteins are purified through affinity, size exclusion or ion exchange chromatography, using FPLC systems.
The purified proteins can be subjected to crystallization in our crystallization robot. Data collection is carried out in synchrotron facilities, where HPI routinely acquires access and funding via the iNext-Discovery platform (https://inext-discovery.eu/). Structure determination and analysis is performed using standard crystallographic software (XDS, CCP4, Phenix, Coot etc.)
The main activity of TTL is the generation of genetically modified mice by using cutting-edge transgenic technologies with the aim to establish models for human diseases, as well as to perform preclinical drug evaluations in terms of high quality services or research collaborations to the national and international research community.
The Bioinformatics and Applied Genomics develops molecular, genomics and bioinformatics applications relevant to sequencing technologies of all generations, but also develops software and pipelines for the analysis of large-scale datasets (big-data). Serving as a Core Facility, BiGen supports all research groups within HPI providing sequencing services, including the design and the execution of wet-lab assay preparation, the sequencing analysis and the downstream bioinformatics. Equipped with high-end sequencers and state of the art robotics, BiGen Unit also provides public services, both in academia and the pharmaceutical industry.