About the facility
The John van Geest Cancer Research Centre is a unique, purpose-built scientific facility in the East Midlands focusing on cancer research into diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
Our vision is to work collaboratively to improve health and wellbeing through fundamental and translational research into the molecular basis of cancer heterogeneity and tumour-host interactions. We are keen to understand how these pathways can be targeted to yield better outcomes for many patients with cancer (personalised oncology), while also avoiding toxicities in individuals who are unlikely to respond to conventional, non-individualised anti-cancer treatments.
Find out more about the John van Geest Cancer Research Centre.
Equipment list
Our staff have been chosen for their expertise within their field. They are career scientists who will be here for as long as it takes us to crack the cancer code. To aid their research, NTU has provided them with top-of-the-line cancer research technologies:
NanoString GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler
This Digital Spatial Profiler workflow seamlessly integrates with current histology methods to get robust and reproducible spatial omics data. Researchers can stain for RNA or Protein from FFPE or fresh frozen tissue sections, allowing them to precisely select which tissue compartments or cell types they want to profile, and readout expression levels using either the nCounter Analysis System or an Illumina sequencer.
NanoString nCounter® XT
The Nanostring nCounter XT allows researchers to analyse the expression of up to 800 different genes with Nanostring, where they can produce a gene expression report in a matter of a few weeks. Researchers can choose from predesigned gene panels, or they can design their own.
Gel Doc Syngene G:BOX Imager
This entry-level system for imaging fluorescence and visible applications is the ideal solution for any cancer laboratory. Researchers can use their own choice of dyes or stains, and the imager automatically selects the right lighting and filters to detect close bands on both small and large gels. Choosing white light options for Coomassie Blue, UV and blue lighting options, ethidium bromide or SYBR® safe gels, this system is the ultimate solution for gel doc flexibility.
SCIEX ZenoTOF 7600 Plus Mass Spectrometer
The Centre houses two SCIEX TripleTOF Mass Spectrometers, which are high-resolution, accurate mass spectrometers allowing qualitative exploration, rapid profiling, and high-resolution quantitation workflows on a single platform. Built and optimised for large-scale quantitative mass spectrometry, these systems offer sensitive and robust quantitation using dedicated low-flow source technology. The instruments are the primary proteomics platforms used at the Centre in combination with various commercial software packages for data analysis (including Protein Pilot, and PEAKS Studio) in combination with other open source software.
Bio-Rad Bio-Plex Multiplex Immunoassay System
This system quantifies over 500 different proteins and peptide targets simultaneously in a single 12.5 µl sample using the Bio-Plex Multiplex System, powered by Luminex xMAP technology. The Bio-Plex System offers high-performance readers, industry-leading software, and sensitive assays in ready-to-use or custom configurations, enabling researchers to obtain high-quality data from limited samples.
Agilent xCelligence Real-Time Cell Analysis
Our Agilent xCelligence Real-Time Cell Analysis is dual-purpose, looking both at cell invasion and migration. Agilent produces a number of cell analysis instruments designed to give life science researchers and drug discovery research scientists better insights into cellular function. The Agilent cell analysis portfolio covers many measurement modalities, including energy metabolism, real-time cell viability, contractility, movement (impedance), and flow cytometry.
Cytek® Aurora Spectral Flow Cytometer with ESP
The Cytek Aurora leverages full spectrum technology to provide unprecedented flexibility to scientists, enabling the use of a wide array of new fluorochrome combinations without reconfiguring the system for each application. The Aurora system delivers high-resolution data at the single-cell level to resolve the most challenging cell populations, such as cells with high autofluorescence or low levels of expression of key biomarkers, regardless of assay complexity.
Chromium 10X Genomics
The 10X Genomics technology generates individually barcoded sequencing libraries for hundreds of thousands of nanoliter volume oil droplets using up to 1.7 million different barcodes. Allowing individual long DNA molecules 10X Genomics Chromium linked-reads principle.
Xenium in situ 10X Genomics
This system builds on the spatial transcriptomics capabilities of the Nanostring GeoMX platform, allowing sub cellular resolution of multiplexed gene or protein panels.
Visium CytAssist 10x Genomics
The Visium CytAssist is a compact instrument designed to simplify the Visium workflow by facilitating the transfer of transcriptomic probes from standard glass slides to Visium slides, enabling whole transcriptomic spatial profiling insights across your entire tissue section, and expanded compatibility with FFPE and/or FF samples.
Image gallery
Find out more about Science and Technology at NTU
The School of Science and Technology is an exciting multidisciplinary environment for learning, teaching and research, with some of the best facilities in the UK. We specialise in biosciences, chemistry, computing and technology, engineering, forensic science, mathematics, physics and sport science.