Testimonies

October 2023

The Nikon Imaging Center (NIC) at UCSD, led by Dr. Peng Guo, has been an invaluable resource for my research. Dr. Guo's expertise and personalized guidance have significantly contributed to the success of my experiments. He offers valuable feedback on experimental setups and has designed a customized automated protocol for my spatial transcriptomics studies. Dr. Guo's accessibility and commitment to high-quality imaging results are remarkable. My other lab members benefited from Dr. Guo’s expertise and collaboration in quantitative image analysis as well. Overall, the NIC and Dr. Guo have had a profound impact on the quality and efficiency of my research. I highly recommend their services to other researchers.

                                                             Talia Baddour, Brian Aguado lab, Department of Bioengineering, UCSD

October 2023

The Nikon center has been an extremely important resource for my research here at UCSD. The equipment and facilities are fantastic, well-maintained, and full of state-of-the-art equipment. Not only is this an excellent resource but the team and particularly, Peng, are very helpful and great at showing how to use the equipment and even contributing to experimental set up. Thanks to the Nikon Center I have been able to get high-qualities images for publication and have also been able to set up a quantitative assay to measure Ca2+ in different cellular organelles. 

                                                               Rafael Badell-Grau, Stephanie Cherqui lab, School of Medicine, UCSD

October 2023

The Nikon Imaging Center at UCSD has been extremely resourceful in our research. I am very impressed by the service and training provided by the team, led by Dr. Peng Guo. Their technical expertise, professionality, attention to details and collegial support is outstanding. We have various imaging needs in our research, ranging from traditional tissue histology, high resolution fluorescent imaging, confocal and live imaging, in different types of samples. We always got timely response and advice from the team regarding the imaging options, and received trainings to the highest standard. We will continue to work with the NIC for our projects.

                                                                                     Xu Chen, Chen lab, Department of Neurosciences, UCSD

October 2023

As a frequent user of the NIC for both confocal work and high content imaging screens I want to write in support to say that my lab has had a fantastic experience both from a new and experienced user standpoint.

                                                                                   Amit, Amit R. Majithia lab, Department of Medicine, UCSD

October 2023

I have been a frequent visitor at the Nikon Imaging Center for the past couple of years. Peng and (previously) Eric have been a great help in getting me acquainted with confocal imaging experiments and go above and beyond to ensure that your experimental needs are fulfilled. The microscope space and equipment is almost always in great condition which makes the imaging a super smooth experience. Highly recommend it to anyone on campus looking to try various imaging modalities for their favorite samples.

                                                                       Saransh Umale, Suckjoon Jun lab, Department of Physics, UCSD

October 2023

My lab uses an advanced multi-functional confocal microscopy system at the UCSD Nikon Imaging Center (NIC) to conduct RNAscope assays and real-time imaging to develop genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors of virus-induced nerve damage and pain signaling in live cells. I have been extremely impressed with the high level of professional support by Dr. Peng Guo and his team and their responsiveness to resolving any technical issues. I want to highlight that using a modern state-of-the-art confocal system is a continuous learning process. To deal with the learning curve, Peng provides excellent training, expert assistance, and consultations that already helped us to optimize and broaden experimental strategies. In addition, the NIC has well-organized time scheduling, image storage, and a comfortable working environment. In the ongoing and planned research, I will continue relying on the NIC team and look forward to further exploring their expanding park of microscopy systems. 

                                                                        Andrei V. Chernov, PhD, Chernov Lab, School of Medicine, UCSD

October 2023

The Nikon Imaging Center at UCSD is great for performing fluorescence microscopy analysis. Thank you very much to Peng and Ricard for training us on the latest equipment. We highly recommend this center to researchers within UCSD as it provides extensive expertise in experimental design, sample preparation, and analysis. I am very happy to be able to work and collect data in such a productive facility.

                                                                         Park, Dong-Jun, Brian Eliceiri lab, Department of Surgery, UCSD

October 2023

The Nikon Imaging Center is an incredible facility that my lab has and will continue to make extensive use of. The microscopes are state-of-the-art and very well-maintained. The highly knowledgeable staff collaborates on every aspect of our experiments, from the planning stage to choosing the correct system and optimizing acquisition, to the quantitative analysis. We have generated tremendous amounts of data using their microscopes for both publications and grant applications.

                                                                            Cole Ferguson, Ferguson lab, Department of Pathology, UCSD

October 2023

The Nikon imaging core is a great facility. The center is well maintained with easy access to the calendar for making reservations. It is fully equipped with several different microscopes which can be used for individual needs. Each user is trained before allowing independent access to the microscope. Peng Guo and Richard Sanchez are very knowledgeable and great resources for helping generate high-quality images along with different analyzing techniques. Their personalized guidance is beneficial in experimental design. They are quick to respond in case of troubleshooting or any microscope-related issues. The Nikon imaging facility at UCSD is very supportive and productive.  

                                                                      Ghuncha Ambrin, Christine Cheng lab, School of Medicine, UCSD

October 2023

I have always been working on functional genomics and when I got an opportunity to work on a new project that involves extensive fluorescence imaging I thought it’ll take up a considerable amount of my time just to get on board. After working on this project for months, I feel privileged to have access to the Nikon Imaging Center at UCSD. The center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, very easy accessibility and simple sign-up procedure. The thorough training I got from Dr Guo was very helpful. I must mention Dr Guo and also Richard for addressing, within no time, any technical issues that sometimes arise. On many occasions, their in-depth knowledge on the overall functioning of the instruments swiftly fixed those issues, saving my time-sensitive precious samples. I will continue to use this facility and highly recommend others as well.

                                                      Tsering Stobdan, Gabriel Haddad Lab, Pediatrics and Neuroscience, UCSD

October 2023

During my tenure as a postdoc at UCSD, the Nikon Imaging Center has been a terrific resource for my research. Peng and Richard had been excellent support for training and on-site troubleshooting. Peng helped me in identifying which microscope was adequate to detect a challenging peptide in the mouse brain. I think it is very valuable that the center provides access to state-of-the-art imaging systems with good availability for the large UCSD research community.

                                                                        Rodrigo Carrasco, Breen Church Lab, School of Medicine, UCSD

November 2023

The Nikon Imaging Center has been an essential resource for many of my current research projects. Prior to contacting the NIC, I had very little experience with imaging techniques. I came to the NIC with just a project outline and goals. Working with the NIC, I learned what was possible to achieve and got detailed advice and support in designing experiments, collecting, and analyzing that data. It is so helpful to be able to take advantage of their expertise and ensure that data is collected at the highest possible quality, and much faster and easier to set up new experiments with the experience and guidance of the NIC rather than working out the possible pitfalls by trial and error alone. It is also amazingly useful to have access to the cutting-edge equipment available though the NIC. Without the Nikon Core, several of my current projects would not be possible and I am very grateful to Peng and the rest of the Core for all their continuing and enthusiastic support. Thank you very much!!

                                                                                              Meilin Wu, William Joiner lab, Pharmacology, UCSD

October 2023

Dr. Guo and the Nikon Image Center at UCSD have been an immensely valuable resource for our research. Not only is NIC fully equipped with state-of-the-art light microscopes that are well maintained, but Dr. Guo also offers individualized training for both expert and nonexpert users. When I initially had little experience in a particular super-resolution microscopy, Dr. Guo skillfully guided me through the entire process and accelerated my knowledge and skills. Furthermore, outside the standard use of the facility, Dr. Guo graciously provided a wealth of valuable research suggestions to expedite our research progress. I wholeheartedly recommend this center to researchers both within and beyond UCSD, spanning from biomedical to new imaging method developments, as it provides comprehensive support for all things related to microscopy.

                                         Chenglai Wang, Wei Xiong lab, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSD

October 2023

The microscope facility NIC is a very well-equipped facility and provides in my opinion a crucial part of a successful research environment at UCSD. It has a range of different microscopes from the same manufacturer and therefore allows the user an easy way to switch between different systems. Dr. Guo and Sanchez are very helpful and provide useful feedback. New training sessions on different microscopes/techniques are provided in a short time frame which makes the entire experience great. I highly recommend everybody to use the NIC. 

                                                           Daniel Mayer, Roger Sunahara lab, Department of Pharmacology, UCSD