UBC Okanagan Shared Research Platforms
Conducting research and obtaining external funding often requires access to advanced infrastructure. UBC researchers can access shared research platforms, which are offered through partnerships between the VPRI and various departments and faculties.
Shared research platform managers and staff provide expertise and specialist guidance to assist researchers in utilizing facilities and equipment to best meet their research needs.
UBC Vancouver Shared Platforms
Shared research platforms are facilities funded jointly by VPRI with faculties and departments for the purpose of offering specialized research services to UBC and the external research community.
Advanced Nanofabrication Facility (ANF)
The University of British Columbia’s Advanced Nanofabrication Facility (ANF) is a world-leading device manufacturing facility that brings together partners from academia, industry, and government to reinforce Canada’s position as a leader in developing next-generation quantum devices and quantum technologies.
Facility Director: Pinder Dosanjh
Advanced Research Computing
Advanced Research Computing (ARC) offers free services to help researchers with computational needs that standard computing infrastructure cannot handle. Services include consultation for project planning, experimental design, data analysis, grant proposals, and access to high performance computing and data management infrastructure.
Initial contact information: arc.support@ubc.ca
Location: West Mall Annex 202,
1933 West Mall, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2
Animal Care & Use Program
The Animal Care and Use Program ensures humane animal care and researcher compliance to the mandatory guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. This university-wide program covers ethics approval, animal care and housing, breeding, veterinary care, facilities management, training and specialized procedures.
Contact Suzanne Richardson for ethical reviews.
View the Animal Care website resource for planning your research.
FINDER: Containment Level 3 facility
The Facility for Infectious Disease and Epidemic Research (FINDER) at UBC Vancouver: a shared research platform for Containment Level 3 scientific experiments.
Contact: finder.communications@ubc.ca
Laboratory for Advanced Spectroscopy and Imaging Research (LASIR)
LASIR is a multidisciplinary research laboratory exploring new frontiers in laser matter interaction, providing unprecedented accessibility to a wide range of researchers in fields as diverse as physics, biology, medicine, engineering, microbiology and chemistry.
The laboratories feature leading-edge laser sources, diagnostics and end stations for a broad range of research applications, and have the capabilities to analyze materials with state-of the-art laser systems spanning a range of wavelengths from deep UV to infrared, and timescales from nanosecond to femtosecond.
Facility Manager: Saeid Kamal
Laboratory of Archaeology (LOA)
LOA is a community of scholars whose research focuses on history, culture, and materiality. LOA is a designated Provincial repository responsible for the care and housing of hundreds of thousands of belongings, debitage, and samples recovered from ancient villages throughout British Columbia as well as the archival records generated by archaeologists. These are legally held in trust for the peoples of British Columbia under the BC Heritage Conservation Act. LOA works with Indigenous communities to ensure informed consent for research of these testimonies left by their Ancestors.
Facility Manager: Simonia Jocic
Molecular and Advanced Pathology Core (MAPcore)
Established in 2020 at the University of British Columbia, the Molecular and Advanced Pathology Core aims to bring spatial “omics” from the laboratory to patient care in the clinic. Through custom Akoya Opal™ multiplex immunofluorescence panels and the sole NanoString Technologies GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler in the province, the Molecular and Advanced Pathology Core is committed to furthering the success of “omics” research by translating findings to clinical utility.
Facility Manager: Seti Boroomand
Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research (PCIGR)
The Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research (PCIGR) is a shared research platform dedicated to excellence and innovation in geochemistry, providing analytical services to the research community.
PCIGR provides end-to-end service for your research needs in the fields of geology, oceanography, environmental sciences, biology, engineering, and archaeology and is always interested in supporting research in new directions.
Initial contact information:
Director: Dominique Weis
Facility Manager: Corey Wall
Plant Care Services
Plant Care Services offers coordinated access and services to two research greenhouses and field locations. One greenhouse is located on the main campus at West Mall and Stores Road. The second greenhouse is on South Campus, near the Botanical Garden’s nursery at 3929 Wesbrook Mall. Field services will be available at the Totem station on West Mall and near the South Campus greenhouse.
Contact Taylor Scriber for initial help to work in greenhouses or field locations.
Sequencing and Bioinformatics Consortium
The Sequencing and Bioinformatics Consortium offers reagents and supplies, consultations, training and access to sequencing services (project planning, experimental design, sample and library preparation, sequencing and genotyping) and support in analyzing and understanding results. Next-Gen or high-throughput sequencing is executed using Illumina technology for genome sequencing and transcriptome profiling while Sanger sequencing is offered for small projects requiring long reads and genotyping for determining unique features of an individual’s DNA sequences.
Initial contact: Sunita Sinha
Location: Pharmaceutical Sciences Building,
3124 – 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3
UBC Bioimaging Facility
The UBC Bioimaging Facility provides microscopy access, training and service to researchers across and beyond UBC.
- Optical microscope infrastructure for light/fluorescence, confocal, multi-photon, and live-cell imaging.
- Electron microscopy infrastructure and advanced sample preparation including cryo-preparation for electron microscopy, routine SEM and TEM, Cryo-SEM, Cryo-TEM, TEM tomography, Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM), and CryoFIB-SEM.
- Training and technical support for users from diverse research disciplines from life sciences to material sciences.
Initial contact information:
Research Manager: Miki Fujita
ubcFLOW Cytometry Facility
The ubcFLOW cytometry facility was established over fifteen years ago and has been growing each year. We started with a single cell sorter and cell analyser and have expanded to four high end cell sorters and seven analysers, all equipped with multiple laser and detectors to accommodate the variety of work performed at UBC. We now offer a state of the art facility with a range of instruments that can truly compete with any facility around the world.
Facility Manager: Andy Johnson
Upright Open MRI
The Shared Platform in Upright Open MRI Research is a full-service facility for translational MRI research. Our Upright Open MRI scanner is different from conventional MRI scanners as it allows the body to be imaged upright, in weight-bearing, and in a wide range of postures.
We welcome researchers new to or experienced with MRI. Our team of experts are here to support clinician-researchers and other researchers new to MRI to enable them to undertake research with this unique scanner.
Initial contact: Amy Phillips
- General inquiries about VPRI shared platforms: Janice Andrade, Manager, Operations, Shared Research Platforms
- Other inquiries on shared research facilities at UBC: Zamyla Chan, Manager, Shared Research Platforms (Strategy).
- For an inventory of CFI-funded infrastructure available for use by researchers from UBC sites, other institutions, non-profits and industry, see the IPO's Infrastructure Database
Research excellence cluster, Characterization@UBC, released a report providing a comprehensive overview of nine major facilities (including shared research platforms) across both UBC campuses that offer state-of-the-art equipment for advanced characterization supporting materials research. The report encompasses more than 46 major instruments, representing more than $46 million in capital investment.