Equipment database

Access over 1,700 items of shared equipment across GW4 – from mass spectrometers, to lightning simulators, to supercomputers – with our Equipment Database.

The GW4 Equipment Database is powered by the EPSRC-funded national database, which each GW4 institution provides data to individually. The database was developed by the University of Southampton with funding from EPSRC, in partnership with Jisc. The service is now operated for the UK academic community by Jisc.

Browse the database for items across all four institutions.

Shared facilities

We believe that shared access to cutting-edge equipment and facilities can bring about discoveries that improve lives. We are investing in major flagship centres of excellence which put the Great West region on the map and catalyse collaboration between GW4 researchers and beyond.

Shared Resources are research technology platforms located at GW4 universities (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter) that can be accessed by researchers across GW4 and beyond, including commercial partners. Our first brochure highlights GW4 Shared Resources for Flow Cytometry that are available for all to access.

GW4 has a number of high-spec, state-of-the-art facilities across its partner institutions that are technically supported and available for use by all our staff and students, search the list below for services or equipment.

Name	Services	Contact
GW4 Supercomputer Isambard	Tier 2 high performance computing service for UK-based scientists. Provides multiple advanced architectures within the same system Enables direct ‘apples-to-apples’ comparisons across architectures Collaboration between the GW4 Alliance, Cray Inc., and the Met Office.	Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, PI for the Isambard project isambard-support@gw4.ac.uk
VSimulators	Multidisciplinary human factors research facility Motion platform and motion capture technology	Exeter Science Park vsimulators@exeter.ac.uk
GW4 Shared Scanners	Pre-clinical In-vivo Functional Imaging for Translational Regenerative Medicine Platform Multi-photon Microscope (zebra fish & rodent) Micro PET/CT scanner 3T large animal MRI scanner	Multi-photon Microscope (Bristol) Micro PET/CT scanner (Cardiff) 3T large animal MRI scanner (Bristol)
GW4 Facility for High-Resolution Cryo-Microscopy (GW4 Cryo-EM Facility)	Microscopy and Analysis for cell function or malfunction	Prof Christiane Berger-Schaffitzel
Exeter Centre for Cytomics	Advanced Multiparameter Cytometry Full Spectral Flow Cytometry Quantitative Imaging Flow Cytometry Single Cell Genomic Cytometry Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) Luminex Multiplexing Assays Complex Data Analysis (ML/AI) Specialized Cytometry Training Industrial/CRO conform Assays Collaborations on Basic- & Applied Research Consultancy	Dr Raif Yuecel & Dr Attila Bebes cytometry@exeter.ac.uk
GW4 Facility for High-Resolution Electron Cryo-Microscopy	Single Particle Analysis Cryotomography Suitable for Structural Biology and Soft Matter Nanomaterials 200 kV X-FEG for generation of highly coherent electron beam GATAN K2 Direct Electron Detector with Counting Mode capability and Zero Loss Peak energy filtering for high-resolution images On-the-fly processing for monitoring and optimisation of data collection parameters	gw4-cryoem@bristol.ac.uk
Wales Positron Emission Tomography Imaging Centre (PETIC)	Clinical and Pre Clinical Services FLT, FDG, FDOPA, Fallypride, Beta amyloid & Tau imaging FDOPA and Fallypride quantification of dopaminergic transport and receptor function NaF bone scanning Gallium 68 DOTANOC imaging for neuroendocrine tumours F Choline PET in Prostate Cancer Monoclonal antibody imaging and kinetics Stem Cell tracking	Chris Marshall PETIC@cardiff.ac.uk
Exeter Offshore testing facility	FaBTest has unique pre-consent for device demonstration Full site survey and resource characteristics available Test whole systems, sub-systems or numerical models	Lars Johanning l.johanning@exeter.ac.uk
Exeter Centre for Graphene Science	Graphene related device manufacture Thin film deposition E-beam lithography Laserwriting	Mark Heath m.heath@exeter.ac.uk
Exeter Biosciences Sequencing facility	High throughput library preparation Long read sequencing Reduced representation sequencing (e.g. RAD-seq) Amplicon sequencing 16S/18S profiling Denovo genome assembly	Konrad Paszkiewicz biosciences-sequencing@exeter.ac.uk
Cardiff X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis	XPS Analysis	David Morgan MorganDJ3@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Transmission Electron Microscope	3D tomography with high-stability goniometer stage EDS elemental analysis with elemental mapping and line scan capability CRYO imaging at -175 oC	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Single Crystal X-ray diffraction	Dual wavelength, single crystal diffraction Variable temperature diffraction measurements (80-500K)	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Scanning Electron Microscope	EBSD EDX SE, BS, STEM imaging	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Powder X-ray diffraction	Variable temperature/room temperature powder X-ray diffraction measurements (16-300K)	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Nuclear magnetic resonance	Acquisition of Small molecule and Biological molecule NMR data	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Mass spectrometry and chromatography	Generation of High Res and Low Res Mass Spectrometry data HR GCMS, HR and LR LCMS, ICPMS Quantitative determination of metals in solution/solids	Mahmoud Akhtar akhtarm@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Gas Turbine Research Centre	Gas Analysis, NOx, CO, THC, O2, NH3 Particulates, LII, DMS Laser diagnostics, LDA, PDA, PIV, PLIF Chemiluminescence High-Speed Videography High-Fidelity Combustion Dynamics	Steve Morris MorrisSM@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Central Biotechnology Services (CBS)	Gene expression profiling SNP genotyping and copy number analysis MicroRNA analysis and methylation analysis Evaluation of RNA quality Large scale RT-PCR and TLDAs Bioinformatics analysis Primer and Project design and data analysis Electrochemiluminescence Flow Cytometry and cell sorting	Charlotte James CBSadmin@cardiff.ac.uk
Cardiff Bioimaging Research Hub	Histological sample processing and slide preparation service Full training and support on all imaging systems Confocal laser scanning microscopy with airyscanning technology, FLIM and FCS Automated, high throughput, multiformat imaging with widefield, confocal and airyscan modalities Spinning disc confocal microscopy Lightsheet microscopy In vivo fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging Live cell imaging Laser microdissection Microfluorimetry Conventional light microscopy (brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, DIC, polarising, fluorescence, reflectance microscopy) Whole slide imaging Stereomicroscopy, microimaging and digital photography Advanced image processing and analysis with machine learning 3D printing service	Anthony Hayes (Facility manager) or Pete Watson (Academic lead for imaging) bioimaginghub@cardiff.ac.uk
Bristol X-ray Analytical Service	Single crystal X-ray structure determination (90-400K) Variable temperature/room temperature powder X-ray diffraction measurements (16-300K)	Hazel Sparkes hazel.sparkes@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Wolfson Bioimaging Facility	Latest-state-of-the-art Light and Electron Microscopy Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM) Cell & life sciences imaging for biological and biomedical research Sample processing Image analysis support	Mark Jepson m.a.jepson@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Translational Biomedical Research Centre (TBRC)	Full medical, surgical and drug research on large animal models High resolution MRI and surgical examination Onsite anaesthetist	Stuart Pope tbrc@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Proteomics Facility	Protein Separation Protein identification Quantitative Proteomics (SILAC, TMT) Phosphoproteomics Serum Proteomics Identification of protein binding partners	Kate Heesom k.heesom@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit Metabolomics NMR Facility	Quantitative, low volume metabolic measurement of human serum/EDTA-plasma Metabolite profiling	Matt Goodwin bristol-metabolomics@bristol.ac.uk
Interface Analysis Centre (IAC)	Materials analysis Facilities for the handling and analysis of radioactive specimens	Keith Hallam k.r.hallam@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Histology Services	Complete histological service Fresh, fixed & frozen sectioning and staining Wax processing Immunocytochemistry & immunofluorencent staining Image capture Consultancy	Debbie Martin debbie.martin@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Electron Microbeam Laboratories	Quantitative X-ray microanalysis X-ray mapping Scanning electron microscopy and CL imaging	Stuart Kearns Stuart.Kearns@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRICBristol)	Siemens 3 Tesla MRI scanner and sleep laboratories Studies in healthy volunteers and clinical populations Full technical and training support	cric-contact@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Chemical NMR Facility	Solution state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometry of small molecules Multinuclear and diffusion NMR Molecular structure and mixture analysis	Craig Butts Craig.Butts@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Chemical Mass Spectrometry Facility	HPLC-MS/UPLC-MS LC-MSn Nano-LC-MS IMS-MS Accurate mass, EI, CI, ESI, nanospray and MALDI MS	Paul Gates Paul.Gates@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Chemical Imaging Facility	Fully-supported TEM Range of sample holders and detectors for materials analysis Fully-supported AFM installed in Cat 2 lab Experiment design, sample preparation, image/spectra acquisition, data analysis	Sean Davis S.A.Davis@bristol.ac.uk
Bristol Genomics Facility	Next generation sequencing Microarray expression analysis High throughput Genotyping Real-time quantitative PCR Capillary sequencing and genotyping DNA and RNA analysis and quality assessment Bioinformatic support	Jane Coghill or Christy Waterfall genomics-facility@bristol.ac.uk
Bath Nanofabrication facility	Access to the facility to carry out own processing Safety and equipment training and support is provided Technical support for some sample fabrication	Stephen Wedge nanofab@bath.ac.uk
Bath Microscopy and analysis suite	Full image analysis Light, scanning probe and electron microscopy Full service package	Ursula Potter U.J.Potter@bath.ac.uk
Bath Material and Chemical Characterisation Facility (MC²)	Electron microscopy (SEM, TEM and cryo-FE-SEM) Mass spectrometry coupled to gas- and liquid chromatography Bio-imaging confocal microscopy and cell analysis X-ray diffraction (Powder and single crystal) Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)	Anneke Lubben mc2@bath.ac.uk
Biological NMR Facility NMR spectrometry	High-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometry Protein and small molecule structure analysis Protein-ligand binding studies	Matt Crump Matt.Crump@bristol.ac.uk
Animal Behaviour Clinic Veterinary Services, Animal Welfare	Behaviour consultation Referring clinical cases Residency programme Separation related behaviours	Clinical Behaviour Office Langford-behaviour@bristol.ac.uk
GW4 Shared Flow Cytometry Resources	Bio-Imaging and Cell Analysis Unit Flow Cytometry Facility Central Biotechnology Services Exeter Centre for Cytomics (EXCC)	Contact us: info@gw4.ac.uk

Facilities and Equipment

Equipment database

Shared facilities