COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility

The COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility offers training, support and access to equipment for advanced microscopy and image analysis.

Our mission is to provide comprehensive support to users seeking to investigate biological and biomedical questions using innovative fluorescence microscopy approaches.

Our commercial and custom imaging systems cover multiple modalities across scales, from single-molecules to whole organisms.

The facility is open to both internal and external users, whether from academia or industry, and we currently support over 80 projects across several disciplines.

Our facility is a founding member of Midlands Open Bioimaging, which aims at democratising access to advanced microscopy in our region.

Access, Fees and Booking

The COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility is open to all researchers, both within and outside COMPARE. Our staff offers tailored, comprehensive support, from experimental design to image analysis. Users are trained for autonomous use of the systems. In addition, we offer fully assisted imaging sessions on our more sophisticated systems.

To know more about our Facility or discuss your training and imaging needs book an appointment with our team.

COMPARE occasionally has pump priming funding available for novel projects that could benefit from advanced imaging. Please enquire if you would like to know more.

Charge rates for autonomous use on all systems are £35 p/h for not-for-profit researchers (please enquire for commercial rates).

Once training is complete, all sessions must be booked in advance using Stratocore. See Comprehensive imaging and analysis training and support for further details.

Costing on grants is via quotation prior to submission. Please contact us to discuss your needs and we will provide a quote.

Our Staff

Dr Joao Correia

COMPARE Advanced Imaging Officer

E-mail: j.n.correia@bham.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9072

Joao joined Birmingham’s COMPARE team in August 2021. During his PhD and ensuing post-doctoral work in Reproductive Biology at the University of Birmingham, Joao applied a number of techniques around high-speed ratiometric imaging, cell tracking and laser-controlled photolysis to probe the detail of how olfactory receptor (GPCR) signalling controls sperm flagellar beat, cell motility and chemotaxis.

His expertise in microscopy and live-cell imaging was further enriched and expanded to other research contexts during subsequent post-doctoral work in cardiovascular sciences and infection, where he gained proficiency in a wider range of imaging techniques (confocal, light-sheet, structured illumination, super-resolution, single molecule, TIRF) whilst investigating platelet function and host-pathogen interactions.

Joao’s role involves providing specialist advice and training for the microscopy technologies available at COMPARE, working closely with researchers to support, optimise and develop their advanced imaging experiments.

Dr Joao Correia

Dr Jeremy Pike

COMPARE Research Fellow for Image Analysis

E-mail: j.a.pike@bham.ac.uk

Jeremy joined COMPARE in 2017 as a Research Fellow in Image Analysis. He completed his PhD in Birmingham where he developed automated image analysis workflows to quantify receptor trafficking using confocal microscopy. Subsequently he worked as an image analyst and microscopy specialist at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Here he developed expertise in a range of analysis techniques and applied these methods to applications in cancer research, including the development of automated feedback microscopy protocols.

In his role at COMPARE, Jeremy collaborates with research groups to design image analysis workflows and provides support to users requiring advanced image analysis. Alongside this, he provides a range of training courses using leading open-source software.

Dr Jeremy Pike