Brandeis University
03/27/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 03/27/2026 12:53
Brandeis light microscopy facility marks a new era with ribbon-cutting ceremony
Brandeis light microscopy facility marks a new era with ribbon-cutting ceremony
March 27, 2026
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a state agency that provided $2.6 million in funding to Brandeis University's Light Microscopy Facility, visited campus Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The event celebrated the arrival of two powerful new visual imaging systems - a light sheet microscope, which uses a plane of light to see inside a translucent sample; and a spinning disk confocal microscope, which captures highly-detailed images using tiny pinholes in a metal disk.
Although the new microscopes are housed at Brandeis, the grant that funded them was designed with a regional mission in mind, says Andy Stone, director of the Light Microscopy Facility. In addition to providing a cutting-edge resource for Brandeis faculty and students, the new equipment is also being made available to researchers across the state.
"This isn't just a private collection of toys," Stone says. "This facility is a great thing for Brandeis, but also it's a great thing for Massachusetts."
Brandeis University doctoral candidate Madeline Severson, left, demonstrates how a light sheet microscope works to Kirk Taylor, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
The grant's communal vision is already becoming a reality. Over the past few months, researchers at Wellesley College, Boston College, UMass Chan Medical School, and multiple biotech firms have all expressed interest in renting time on its instruments.
The ribbon-cutting event marks both a milestone for the facility and a model for how state investment in scientific infrastructure can ripple outward, Stone adds. Its impact will be felt in research labs, academic partnerships, and the broader life sciences ecosystem that Massachusetts has spent decades cultivating.
"At a time when federal research funding is drying up, a state-funded operation like this is a flagship of how science should run," he says. "Massachusetts is leading the way."
To learn more about the Brandeis Light Microscopy Facility and the research it enables, read our feature story in Brandeis Magazine.
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