Supporting Facilities

IPrime works with eight research Partnership Programs. Several of these programs also receive support from the National Science Foundation via the University's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Research is supported by these major facilities:

Characterization Facility

Supports the characterization of organic and inorganic solids, polymers, and interfaces. Specialists assist users and help them interpret results. Training is available to allow users direct access to instruments.

The Characterization Facility has added two new scanning electron microscopes (SEM). See details, information about other new facility improvements, and new billing options for industrial users in our newsletter, NanoTechnology News.

Imaging Center
(Scanning and transmission electron microscopy including x-ray elemental analysis capabilities (EDAX), (hyper-spectral) fluorescence microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy with particular expertise in imaging living biological specimens).

Polymer Characterization Lab
State-of-the-art rheometry equipment and expertise support characterization of polymeric and other complex materials.

Polymer Synthesis Lab
Design and synthesis of custom polymer materials in lab- and pilot-scale batches.

Coating Process and Visualization Lab
Specialized facilities and expertise support visualization of coating processes.

Tissue Mechanics Lab
Provides instruments and expertise to measure the mechanical properties of soft tissues and other biological materials.

Nanofabrication Center
The Nanofabrication Center (NFC) is an interdisciplinary facility that supports faculty and industrial research within the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota, to support education, research and industrial collaboration in microelectronics and other related research involving nanofabrication.

BioTechnology Resource Center
(Division of the BioTechnology Institute)

(Fermentation process development and scale-up ranging from 5L to 450L, downstream processing (centrifugation, cell breakage, tangential flow filtration, chromatography), recombinant protein expression and purification)

(HTBA Division of the BioTechnology Institute)