Core Facilities Milestones

Research Core Facilities at Drexel University promote discovery, creativity, and impact by providing access to advanced instrumentation and services, expertise on experimental design and data analysis, and technical training to Drexel students, researchers, faculty, and external academic and industry partners. The Materials Characterization Core, Cell Imaging Center, and University Research Computing Facility host some of the most cutting-edge instrumental and technical capabilities on campus and are hubs of high-impact research, innovation, collaboration, and learning. This year these centrally-reporting core facilities served over 100 Drexel faculty and hundreds of researchers including undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral students, and research scientists from eight of Drexel’s Colleges and Schools. Researchers using the ORI Cores authored over 325 peer-reviewed publications this year – over 12% of Drexel’s total research output. Research expenditures for those same investigators topped $32M – over 19% of Drexel’s total research expenditures in FY2024. 

University Research Computing Facility (URCF) 

The URCF provides high-performance scientific computing and secure data storage to the Drexel community and other universities in the Philadelphia area. The URCF’s data center houses the Picotte cluster, which comprises over 4,000 CPU cores, 20TB of RAM, 500TB of data storage, and dozens of Nvidia GPUs with over a terabyte of total GPU memory. Picotte was acquired through a combined $1.2 million investment funded by Drexel and an award from the NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation program. Limited Picotte access is available to all Drexel researchers for free, with expanded priority access available at cost. 
 
In AY 2024-2025, over 100 researchers from 50 groups ran jobs totaling more than 10 million CPU hours on Picotte. 

Additional highlights include: 

• In January 2025, James Porter joined the URCF as a Research Computing Specialist. James brings a wealth of experience in research computing and technical education, and has already dramatically improved the Picotte user experience. 
• In spring 2025, James initiated a well-received series of introductory workshops on research computing skills including Python programming, Linux and HPC skills. More than 60 people from almost every academic unit attended. 
• In fall 2025, Picotte continued to support education at Drexel in addition to research, supported dozens of students in classes from engineering to genomics to physics, as well as undergraduate thesis work. 
• The URCF is actively working with several Drexel researchers to build a new shared computing cluster with a focus on GPU compute for AI model training and inference, funded by a $3.9M Major Research Instrumentation award from the NSF. This system is in its early stages but has already supported the work of over 20 Drexel researchers, resulting in 18 publications and presentations on topics including forgery detection, civil infrastructure monitoring, autonomous vehicles, and gene function prediction. 

Please email James Porter for more information about the URCF. 

Materials Characterization Core (MCC) 

The MCC is a multi-user facility that provides technical expertise and instrumentation for research in variety of areas including nanoscience and engineering, polymer research, biomedical engineering, and chemistry and physics of solid materials. The MCC occupies a 3,500 square foot laboratory in the Bossone Research Enterprise Building on Drexel's main campus that houses several electron microscopes, X-ray diffractometers, an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, and a suite of sample preparation tools. 
 
In AY 2024-2025, 149 MCC users clocked 10,406 instrument hours. Users represented 62 faculty research groups from 4 Drexel Colleges and Schools and several external institutions and companies. 
 
Additional Highlights include: 

• In partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the MCC hosted an Advanced Scanning Electron Microscopy workshop with presentations from Thermo Fisher applications scientists and in-lab demos on our Apreo SEM. 
• Drexel Materials Characterization Day was held in partnership with the Materials Science and Engineering department and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. The event showcased research by Drexel faculty and graduate students, presentations by Thermo Fisher applications scientists and a microscopy art competition and student poster competition. 
• MCC staff and users collaborated to provide demos for over 80 incoming freshmen participating in the MSE 2-Day Materials Course.
• The MCC was a feature of a MSE recruiting event that included microscope demonstrations for over 60 high school students.
• MCC provided demos for high school students participating in the Materials Camp hosted by Drexel’s Materials Science and Engineering Department in conjunction with the local chapter of ASM International. 

Cell Imaging Center (CIC)

The CIC is a multi-user facility housed in purpose-built imaging suites in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building and in the Bossone Research Center. The CIC serves the light microscopy needs of Drexel researchers from a variety of academic colleges and departments including the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the School of Biomedical Engineering, and the College of Medicine.  
 
In AY 2024-2025, 80 CIC users clocked 4,285 instrument hours. Users represented 27 faculty research groups from four Drexel Colleges and Schools.

Additional highlights include: 

• Dr. Beatriz Hernaez Estrada, CIC’s flow cytometry specialist, has established monthly workshops from September 2025 to educate Drexel researchers on the proper use of the flow cytometer and the high-throughput system, as well as to provide training in basic flow cytometry principles. These in-person sessions not only help users expand their technical knowledge, but also create an opportunity for researchers to connect, share experiences, and discuss their experiments with other CIC flow users. The workshops also serve as an open forum for users to ask her questions related to flow cytometry, instrument troubleshooting, and experimental design. 
• CIC organized lecture, demo and hands – on activity in collaboration with the professors Dr. Kriete and Dr. Gidalevitz for the following classes  
  
  • BMES 421/621: Medical Imaging systems   
  • BIO T380: Genetics Reseach in C Elegans  
• CIC organized tours for the biology graduate student recruitment and orientation events. 
  CIC hosted the following demonstrations for the Drexel community to learn about the newest imaging methods  
  
  • Nikon AXR Confocal with NSPARC workshop – Apr 15-19, 2024  
  • Bruker MuVi SPIM Lightsheet - March 2025  

Please email Harini Sreenivasappa for more information about the CIC. 

University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR)

The University Laboratory Animal Resource provides for the care, health and well-being of animals used in research and education programs at Drexel University, provides expertise and resources to researchers, and serves the public by ensuring observance of all legal and ethical standards pertaining to animals in research.

In AY 2024-2025, University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR) provided animal husbandry, medical assistance, research assistance and guidance to 47 PIs and research laboratories at four Drexel campuses, including an average daily census of 2,200 enclosures housing 6,500 mice and rats.

Additional Highlights Include:

• Planning has begun to relocate the NCB and QL animal facilities to 3201 Cuthbert St. in University City, with the move scheduled for summer 2027.
• ULAR management is collaborating with the ORI RBOT team and Novelution to develop new software to replace the current per diem billing and animal care modules.
• Dr. Huneke has retired but remains available for consultation as needed.
• Melanie McFadden, DVM, MLAS, now leads Drexel University’s Veterinary Services as the Executive Director of Veterinary Services. She brings extensive expertise in laboratory animal medicine and clinical care, and oversees veterinary operations while supporting both the ULAR team and the regulatory compliance team to maintain the highest standards of animal welfare and scientific excellence.
• Shannon Morton has joined the Office of Research & Innovation’s ULAR team as the Senior Veterinary Technician. She will work closely with Dr. McFadden to provide veterinary oversight, ensure research protocol compliance, and uphold rigorous animal care standards.
• Andrea McCurry has been promoted to Executive Director of Operations for Drexel’s four campuses.
• Luciana Villar has been promoted to Director of Operations, serving all four campuses.
• Faith Witherspoon now manages Salus University and Calhoun, University City.

Please email Andrea McCurry for more information about ULAR.

Visit the Core Facilities Website

For information about managing shared research infrastructure or establishing a research core facility, please email Dr. Craig Johnson.