In the last decade, Lehigh University has seen a steady increase in investment in facilities and resources for research in the biomedical sciences, biotechnology, and healthcare initiatives. This has encompassed the growth of the Department of Biological Sciences, the founding of the Department of Bioengineering, and the upcoming opening of the stellar new Health, Sciences, and Technology Building.
The P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science has sought to leverage this dynamic period of growth to strategically develop research facilities to grow our footprint in the area of biomaterials, medical devices, and precision diagnostics. The establishment of the Health Research Hub (HRH) within Iacocca Hall on the Mountaintop Campus is part of this strategic plan to advance these research thrusts by providing a collaborative research space and integrated and shared facilities for cell and tissue culture, soft lithography or microfabrication, and materials imaging and characterization.
The HRH facility, commissioned in 2013, comprises three shared laboratory spaces, and several other flexible use/hoteling/incubator spaces for researchers. The facility is well equipped with built-in infrastructure- including chemical hoods, sample wet bench space, and house gas and vacuum lines/ports.
The cell and tissue culture, microfabrication and imaging facilities in the HRH are available to both institutional and external users on a pay for service basis, with equipment training and use provided by the facility director Dr. Will Xia. Equipment available within the HRH include BSL-2+ cell/tissue incubators, centrifuges, cryo-storage tanks, a spin-coat, plasma etching with RIE (Reactive-ion etching), profilometry, atomic force and confocal microscopes, emulsion polymerization and optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Email will.xia@lehigh.edu to schedule a visit and discuss how HRH can support your research needs.