Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry (SCIF)

The Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry (SCIF) will provide stem cell researchers at UC Merced and throughout California access to advanced instruments, techniques and collaborators for single cell analysis. The SCIF will be housed in a 5420asf facility which includes Class 1000 and 100 clean rooms for micro/nano fabrication, facilities for human and mouse stem cell culture, quantitative cell imaging, and workstations. The SCIF is particularly unique because it will provide a range of microfluidic-based systems enabling researchers, with no prior knowledge of micro/nano techniques, to custom design devices online to their specific needs, rapidly adopting cutting edge research technologies. The SCIF will be equipped with advanced "collaboratory" technology to connect researchers to online support, workshops and collaborators. Ancillary core services include materials characterization, vivarium, and computational biology.