The Biomedical Engineering and Physical Science (BEPS) shared resource supports NIH’s intramural basic and clinical scientists on applications of engineering, physics, imaging, measurement, and analysis. BEPS is centrally located on the main NIH campus and provides expertise that spans technologies ranging in scale from near-atomic resolution to intact organisms.
Electron Microscopy
The Electron Microscopy Unit provides instrumentation, training, and services for: immuno electron microscopy, electron tomography, and specimen preparation, including cryo-techniques.
Micro Analytical Immunochemistry
The Micro Analytical Immunochemistry Unit employs a variety of techniques to isolate, identify, and quantitate proteins, peptides, lipids, antibodies, and other biological molecules of interest. The unit currently has a range of active projects using MALDI-TOF analysis and imaging, single and multiplex ELISA, and ICP-OES spectroscopy.
Microfabrication and Microfluidics
The Microfabrication and Microfluidics Unit specializes in rapid design, fabrication, and characterization of microfluidic devices, including single or multilayer templates, microfabrication in silicon/glass, PDMS, thermoplastics, and agarose. Capabilities also include structured surface modification, such as microcontact printing, and plasma treatment of PDMS devices for irreversible bonding or for surface activation, as well as finite element modeling. The unit also houses a 3D extrusion bioprinter and a rheometer for measuring viscoelastic properties of materials from 4 to 50 degrees Celsius.
Quantitative Methods for Macromolecular Interactions
The Quantitative Methods for Macromolecular Interactions (QMMI) Unit specializes in the following: biophysical characterization of individual macromolecules and their interactions, measurement of solution-phase molecular weight, sedimentation coefficients, and translational diffusion coefficients, hydrodynamic radii, and overall asymmetry of macromolecules or their assemblies, establishment of the stoichiometry of complexes, and insight into secondary structure or changes in structure upon ligand binding.
Scanning Probe Microscopy
The Scanning Probe Microscopy Unit specializes in nanoscale imaging of molecular complexes, lipid bilayers, cells and tissues, molecular recognition, protein unfolding, force spectroscopy, high-resolution viscoelastic property mapping, correlated AFM and fluorescence microscopy, and mathematical modeling, image analysis, finite element analysis.