Welcome to the Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI Geneva)

The Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI) is a joint initiative of the EPFL, the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva. The DCI is currently composed of two units, the CryoGEnic facility (DCI Geneva) is located in the Science II building of the University of Geneva and the DCI Lausanne (https://www.dci-lausanne.org/) is located at the border between the EPFL and the University of Lausanne..

These two units form the DCI, a service platform for cryo-electron microscopy. The DCI operates several high-end TEM and cryo-EM instruments to study biological molecules, viruses, bacteria, micro-crystals, small organelles, or sections of biological cells or tissues. The DCI has the expertise and is equipped to perform the entire structural analysis pipeline, covering the preparation of the samples, image and tomography data collection with electron microscopes, micro-electron diffraction (micro-ED), computer image processing, and atomic model building.

Offer

The Bioimaging Center - CryoGEnic is providing help at different levels:

Advice for experimental approach and design
Guidance for sample preparation (negative staining, plunge-feezing)
Supervision and guidance for the use of the electron and cryo-electron microscopes
Training: New users are trained on the instruments until they become independent
Data analysis and quantification using dedicated software and GPU workstations
We also establish methods for ultrastructural analysis of cells and tissues
In addition we offer different pre- and post-embedding immunolabeling protocols as well as negative staining
The center is equipped with bench space that is available to users of our service.

Available upon request

Fees and prices
Design and optimization of protocols for complex experiments and applications
Alternative forms of services

Dr. Yashar Sadian, Dr. Christoph Bauer, Dr Celine Besnard

Instruments

Microscopes

G2 Sphera (200KeV, LaB6)

Talos L120C (120 KeV, LaB6)

Talos Arctica (200 KeV, FEG)

Sample preparations

Leica UC7

Leica EM ICE High Pressure Freeze

FEI vitrobot cryoplunger

Leica EM GP2–Automatic Plunge Freezer

Leica EM AFS

Leica EM FSP Freeze substitution processor

Spraying device for time-resolved EM (TrEM)

Contacts / Direction

Contacts

Christoph Bauer, PhD

Managing Director

tel: +41 (0)22 379 66 32
Fax +41 (0)22 379 61 50
christoph.bauer@unige.ch

Céline Besnard, PhD

Scientific Collaborator - Electron Diffraction

tel: +41 (0)22 379 62 02
e-email: Celine.Besnard@unige.ch

Scientific advisors

Prof. Robbie Loewith

Department of molecular

tel: +41 (0)22 379 61 16
robbie.loewith@unige.ch

Prof. Paul Guichard

Department of cell biology

tel: +41 (0)22 379 67 50
e-email: paul.guichard@unige.ch

Prof. Andreas Boland

Department of molecular biology

tel: +41 (0)22 379 61 27
e-email: andreas.boland@unige.ch

Booking

To initiate a project at the DCI Geneva facility please contact:
Christoph Bauer, Head of the DCI Geneva
Tel: +41 22 379 66 32
Email: christoph.bauer@unige.ch
Once registered and a regular user, use the PPMS booking system

To initiate a project at the DCI Lausanne facility please visit the DCI-Lausanne website

Alex Myasnikov is the Head of the DCI Lausanne. He can be contacted at alexander.myasnikov(at)epfl.ch