COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility

The COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility is an integral part of the Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE) and is embedded in the Tech Hub of our College. The Facility offers access to state-of-the-art commercial and custom microscopes, advanced image analysis software, and high-performance computing infrastructure.

We provide comprehensive support, training, and access to technologies such as live-cell imaging, super-resolution microscopy, single-particle tracking, and light-sheet microscopy. These technologies enable researchers to investigate biological and biomedical questions across scales, from single molecules to whole organisms, with unprecedented detail

Open to both internal and external users from academia and industry, our Facility supports dozens of projects across various disciplines.

We are a founding member of Midlands Open Bioimaging, which aims to democratise access to advanced microscopy in our region.

Access, Fees and Booking

The COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility is open to all researchers, both within and outside COMPARE. Our staff offers tailored, comprehensive support, from experimental design to image analysis.

Users are trained for autonomous use of the microscopes. Once training is complete, all sessions must be booked in advance using Stratocore.

Alternatively, we offer fully assisted imaging sessions on our more sophisticated systems. No specific training is required for assisted use of the Facility.

We charge non-profit researchers £39 per hour for autonomous use on all our systems (please enquire for commercial rates). COMPARE occasionally has pump priming funding available for novel projects that could benefit from advanced imaging.

Costing on grants is via quotation prior to submission. Please contact us to discuss your needs and we will provide a quotation.

To know more about our Facility or discuss your training and imaging needs book an appointment with our team.

Our Staff

Dr Edalat Radfar

COMPARE Advanced Analysis Specialist

E-mail: e.radfar@bham.ac.uk

Edalat Radfar is a Biomedical Engineer with over a decade of experience in optics and advance microscopy. He joined the COMPARE Advanced Imaging Facility in early 2024 as an Advanced Imaging Analysis Specialist. Edalat specialises in developing and implementing advanced optical setups and image analysis workflows.

During his postdoctoral research at the Institute of Metabolism & Systems Research (IMSR), now Department of Metabolism and Systems Science (MSS), and the Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE), he worked on super-resolution microscopy and live-cell single-molecule imaging applied to receptor signalling. He also led the development of an adaptive optics microscope for 3D single-molecule localisation microscopy and an AI-controlled high-content light-sheet microscope as part of the Midlands Open Bioimaging initiative.

Edalat provides specialist advice and training to the users of the Facility, working closely with researchers and supporting them in developing and optimising their experiments and image analysis workflows. Alongside this, he provides a range of workshops and image analysis training courses using the latest open-source software.

Edalat Radfar