Establishing an advanced microscopy and diagnostic research facility for the midwest and illinois MSI alliance

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received a $7.8 million Project Grant award dated September 15, 2025, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director under the Construction Support program (CFDA 93.352) to establish an Advanced Microscopy and Diagnostic Research Facility. The project, scheduled for completion by May 31, 2030, involves a 4,830 square-foot expansion at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology in Urbana, Illinois, encompassing renovation of existing space and new construction. The facility will deliver three primary products and services: an advanced microscopy regional center housing sophisticated imaging instruments, a diagnostics laboratory for detecting circulating biomarkers, and clinical research suites for sample collection.

The facility will serve as a centralized research resource for Illinois campus researchers and regional partners across universities, nonprofits, and companies, with particular focus on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and women's health research. By consolidating scattered diagnostic labs and expanding microscopy capacity, the project addresses critical infrastructure gaps at the institution and reduces the burden on smaller regional institutions to acquire high-end instrumentation. The 24/7 accessibility of the facility within the IGB's central campus location is designed to increase collaborative research capacity across Illinois and the Midwest while providing enhanced training and research opportunities for institutional trainees and postdoctoral researchers.

Abstract

The university of ILLINOIS urbana-champaign (ILLINOIS) proposes to expand its microscopy core facilities to establish an advanced microscopy and diagnostics facility to create a regional center for sophisiticated microscopy instruments, a facility to develop and test diagnostics tools to detect circulating biomarkers, and a clinical research suite for sample collection. By doing so, this facility, located in a premier interdisciplinary research institute, the carl R. Woese institute for genomic biology (IGB), will provide a centralized location for ILLINOIS campus researchers, regional partners in universities, non-profits, and companies to have access to tools and instrumentation that help address important research topics including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and women's health. Importantly, IT will reduce the burden on smaller institutions to obtain high-end instruments and will increase collaboration across ILLINOIS and the midwest. The clinical research suites will provide added capacity on the ILLINOIS campus to meet the clinical research needs, and the diagnostics lab will provide a shared central location for the scattered labs across campus. The current microscopy facility has exceeded capacity limits, and instruments are housed suboptimally in shared or repurposed rooms. The proposed remodeling will focus on a targeted expansion to accommodate the three above needs to increase capacity for biomedical research. The 4830 SQ. FT. Expansion requires renovating an existing space and new construction of an undeveloped space north of the IGB. The IGB's central location on campus is particularly beneficial for ILLINOIS trainees and post-docs, offering them 24/7 access and proximity to the expanded facilities. Our goal is to increase access and establish ILLINOIS as a midwest hub for advanced microscopy by providing best-in-class training with state-of-the-art equipment to better enable biomedical researchers to address research grand challenges, both within our university and across a diverse set of regional partners.