Research Facilities | Westlake University

Biomedical Research Core Facilities

The Biomedical Research Core Facilities (BRCF) serve the elite multidisciplinary research at Westlake University. With a can-do attitude, the BRCF seeks to become an enabling mechanism by providing technical solutions that are beyond the capabilities of any individual laboratories, removing barriers to the implementation of complex and sophisticated scientific programs, thus allowing researchers to think big and tackle the most daunting challenges in biomedical research.

Closely aligned with the research programs at Westlake, the BRCF has installed a comprehensive series of technological platforms to empower the cutting-edge research. The BRCF will strive to build a world-class research support system, a platform for talent training, and an incubator for multidisciplinary collaborations.

Laboratory Animal Resource Center

The Laboratory Animal Resources Center (LARC) provides various services for biomedical researches, including: optimized animal care and welfare, rederivation, generation of genetically modified mice, speed expansion via IVF, strain rescue via IVF, mouse line cryopreservation and resuscitation, animal model development and professional support in the broad field of laboratory animal science.

LARC is highly involved with research and training, and LARC interacts closely with the IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) to satisfy guidelines for the care and use of animals used in research. The mission of LARC is to provide Westlake and non-Westlake investigators with state-of-the-art expertise to achieve their research goals.

Westlake Center for Micro/Nano Fabrication

Westlake Center for Micro/Nano Fabrication is equipped with advanced micro/nano fabrication facilities and operated by a group of experienced engineers. The center houses Suss mask aligner, Raith e-beam lithography （EBL） system, Samco ICP etching system, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) system, ULVAC thin film deposition system, etc. The equipment endows fabrication capabilities for silicon and organic micro/nano devices that can fulfill the requirements from physics, chemistry, electronics, photonics, biomedicine, materials science to multidiscipline. Besides the traditional fabrication tools mentioned above, the center owns focused helium ion nanofabrication, femtolaser writing and laser direct writing tools.

With the future expansion of the center at Yungu campus of Westlake University, it will fully expand its electronics research capabilities by merging ion implanter, stepper scanner, materials growth and device fabrication tools for III-V and II-VI semiconductors, and its structure characterization to sub-nanometer resolution for 3D nano complex.

Westlake Center for Micro/Nano Fabrication will support the university to become one of the first-tier universities in the world by substantially exploring the center’s hardware and intellectual resources.

Westlake University Supercomputer Center

Westlake University Supercomputer Center (WLSC) provides advanced computing and data analysis service for the cutting-edge scientific and engineering research in Westlake University. WLSC now hosts one cluster of 4080 CPU cores and 1.4PB parallel storage with 56Gbps high-speed network. Two GPU clusters (cryo-EM and AI) equipped of 200 NVidia Tesla V100 will be fully functional by Q1 of 2020. Frequently used software and production environment has been setup on all clusters, including but not limited to RELION, GROMACS, GATK, Guassian, VASP, Tensorflow, PyTorch, gcc/g++, gfortran, Intel compiler, java, python, perl, openmpi et al. The computational resources in WLSC are open to all Westlake University faculty, students, and staff. For more information, feel free to contact hpc@westlake.edu.cn.

Instrumentation and Service Center for Physical Sciences

Initiated by the School of Science, the Instrumentation and Service Center for Physical Sciences (ISCPS) hosts state-of-the-art facilities not only to meet routine analysis needs, but also to collaborate with our faculty and researchers in developing novel instrumental technologies or methodologies that address problems emerging from dynamic, cutting-edge research. ISCPS has currently installed a series of instruments covering X-ray diffraction, surface physics analysis, cryogenic measurement, electron microscopy and physical property characterization, which together provide strong support for the development of Westlake University.

Instrumentation and Service Center for Molecular Sciences

The Instrumentation and Service Center for Molecular Sciences (ISCMS) is a shared-use core facility at Westlake University to provide a collaborative multi-disciplinary research environment to support of the creation and evolution of world-class molecular sciences and technical expertise, for the Westlake research community as well as the larger community of external researchers both from academia and industry. ISCMS is composed of four professional analytical laboratories: Spectroscopy Lab, Magnetic Resonance Lab, Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy Lab, In-situ Chemical Analysis Lab, focusing on the exploration of molecular structure, intra- and inter-molecular interactions and molecular dynamics. The characterization service covers organic and inorganic components and structures analysis, qualitative and quantitative measurements of drugs and polymers, determination of the structure of functional materials and the conformation of polypeptides and biomolecules, stability and dynamics analysis, metabolomics analysis of drugs or clinical markers, inspections of quality for water, food or drug, as well as detection of environmental pollutant etc. The focus of ISCMS technical team has been not only to serve a broad, diverse, international set of researchers who are focus on pioneering scientific innovations, but also to develop specialized methodologies, protocols, instrumentation, and expertise to help simulate, characterize, and analyze novel molecules, materials, and systems going beyond conventional approaches.