Access the tools you need to deliver high quality research, foster innovation and develop critical skills using the specialist facilities and technical expertise we have here on site.
The Research Infrastructure and Facilities (RIF) service at the University of Bath is made up of a resource of critical research infrastructure and centralised core research facility services. It’s a sustainable, connected and evolving ecosystem formed to facilitate delivery of research excellence and skills development, accessible to stakeholders at the University, other higher education institutions and industrial partners.
The RIF team will ensure strategic alignment with evolving research and teaching needs, and improve operational and financial sustainability through process optimisation, streamlining and increased cost recovery from funders and commercial sources.
As a member of our community, you can take advantage of our cutting-edge infrastructure and expertise.
Available services
Biotech Facility
The core offering of the biotechnology facility is protein expression and purification. This runs from small scale production and testing under a variety of conditions through to scaled up protein expression. The team is able to produce batches of specific proteins at very high purity for use in pharmaceutical industry research and development.
Chemical Characterisation Facility
Using a wide variety of techniques including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and mass GPC, TOC and HPLC spectrometry , the chemical characterisation facility applies techniques to deliver results in areas such as identifying unknown compounds, assessing the purity of samples, monitoring reactions and environmental screening.
Imaging Facility
The imaging facility offers the opportunity to image samples using a wide variety of techniques and on different scales, from sub-nanometre to macro imaging, with services spanning light and electron microscopy, flow cytometry, bioimaging and molecular spectroscopy.
Physical Structure Characterisation Facility
The physical structures facility offers a broad range of techniques to determine the physical properties of a sample, including X-ray diffraction to identify the 3D atomic structure of a compound, and other techniques to calculate the thermal decomposition of samples, melting points, and amounts of volatile matter within samples provided, as well as much more.
Advanced Fabrication Facility
The David Bullet Nanofabrication Facility is an ISO class 6 suite of cleanrooms that house specialist materials patterning, deposition and processing equipment. Our individual items of equipment can be used separately or in sequence to create micro- or nano-scale electronic or optical devices.
On the University of Bath campus, we also have a research-grade facility for making optical fibre. We use the facility to process raw materials – usually silica glass tubes and doped silica rods – into flexible optical fibre that guides light along its length. We make many different types of fibre, most of which is very different to conventional telecommunications fibre and often incorporates a microstructure.
Buildings Test Facility
Our open-to-the-elements facility offers a platform for research into innovative building materials and constructive systems.
Biosciences Services Unit
We have a Biosciences Services Unit which conducts biological research to very high standards.
CAMERA
The Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications (CAMERA) has been funded by the EPSRC and the University of Bath. It exists to accelerate the impact of fundamental research being undertaken at the University in the Departments of Computer Science, Health and Psychology. CAMERA performs world-leading research in Intelligent Visual and Interactive Technology, underpinned by academic and partner expertise across both core EPSRC research disciplines – Computer Vision, Graphics, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and AI – as well expertise in healthcare, rehabilitation, biomechanics, musculoskeletal modelling, sports performance, and psychology.
Using our services
Our technical staff across the facilities provide a wealth of experience across techniques and fields to help you solve challenges and find solutions in your research.
What you can access:
- fully TRAC costed services for cost recovery and income from external services
- online booking tools for instrumentation and training
- support for career development of instrument specialists
- equipment sharing for long-term sustainability
- responsible instrument specialists to troubleshoot and communicate
- a structure to help you get funding for your research
As a University, we are committed to investing in our research infrastructure and operating models to ensure long-term sustainability. If you require infrastructure we don’t already have, the RIF team can help you apply for funding to get it.