COR²E
The Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) serves as the gateway to research resources available to the UConn community. In addition to providing a variety of software tools for exploring UConn research and expertise, COR²E is also the managing entity for a wide variety of core facilities, housing both state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
COR²E
The Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) serves as the gateway to research resources available to the UConn community. In addition to providing a variety of software tools for exploring UConn research and expertise, COR²E is also the managing entity for a wide variety of core facilities, housing both state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
COR²E
The Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) serves as the gateway to research resources available to the UConn community. In addition to providing a variety of software tools for exploring UConn research and expertise, COR²E is also the managing entity for a wide variety of core facilities, housing both state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
COR²E
The Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) serves as the gateway to research resources available to the UConn community. In addition to providing a variety of software tools for exploring UConn research and expertise, COR²E is also the managing entity for a wide variety of core facilities, housing both state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
COR²E
The Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) serves as the gateway to research resources available to the UConn community. In addition to providing a variety of software tools for exploring UConn research and expertise, COR²E is also the managing entity for a wide variety of core facilities, housing both state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
About Us
Part of the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Center for Open Research Resources and Equipment (COR²E) offers 9 highly specialized facilities located on the Storrs campus which offer services, expertise, and instrumentation to advance research across all UConn campuses. Each COR²E facility is managed by experts that provide experimental guidance, instrument access, and customized services to university faculty, staff scientists, post-doctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, COR²E facilities also serve external academic, government, and industry users. As dictated by the nature of each core facility, COR²E research resources may offer full service and/or walk-up access to equipment. For more information on the services provided, current technologies available, and contact information for facility staff, click the individual facility icons below.
Advanced Light Microscopy
The Advanced Light Microscopy Facility provides access to advanced imaging technology in order to promote innovation and cross-disciplinary interaction. The facility houses a number of laser scanning confocals, as well as systems for widefield imaging and total internal reflection microscopy.
BioSupply
The BioSupply Facility provides biological research supply services and stock room capabilities. The mission of the facility is to simplify research supply ordering and receiving. In addition to maintaining a constant stock of commonly utilized consumables, the facility works with a wide variety of vendors to provide a cost savings to faculty on equipment and reagents.
Brain Imaging Research Center
The BIRC facilitates scientific discovery and theoretical innovation in cognitive neuroscience and other fields by providing access to state-of-the-art equipment and methods and technical and scientific training. It supports both brain and whole-body imaging and research across the life span and on a range of clinical and nonclinical populations.
Electrical/Electronics: Technology & Repair
The Electrical/Electronics: Technology and Repair facility supports academic research and administrative activities through consultation, support, development, and repairs. Services include computer repair, lab equipment repair, electrical and electronic support, and office equipment repairs.
Flow Cytometry
The Flow Cytometry Facility provides investigators with expertise and sophisticated instruments for the analysis of cells or particles based on size, internal complexity, and fluorescent signals. Heterogeneous cell populations can be identified and quantified and cell or particle types can be physically sorted to obtain pure populations for further study.
Mechanical/Glass: Design & Fabrication
The Mechanical/Glass: Design & Fabrication Facility supports academic research through consultation, engineering, manufacturing, design, and repairs. Skilled technicians design, fabricate, or repair complex mechanical instruments and glassware, and carry out jobs in precision machining, MIG and TIG welding, woodworking, sheet metal, and plexiglass fabrication.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility recognizes the important role that NMR plays in molecular structure determination and conformational analysis for research projects engaging chemical synthesis, chemical mixture characterization, drug design, intermolecular interaction studies, protein and nucleic acid characterization. The joint NMR Facility of COR²E and the Department of Chemistry offers several solution-state NMR instruments on a fee-for-use basis.
Proteomics & Metabolomics
The Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility implements ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (MS) to unambiguously identify proteins, peptides and small molecules in complex mixtures.
Statistical Consulting Services
The Statistical Consulting Services (SCS) provides advice on statistical problems arising in the preparation of studies, the analysis of data and the interpretation of results. It provides a center for discussion on research problems and methodological advances in statistics and probability.
News
COR2E Open House and Vendor Show
September 2026
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Join the Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E) for an informational Open House highlighting core facility resources, services, and expertise that are available to all UConn researchers. At this event, you can also explore technologies and expertise featured in HCRAC-supported core facilities located at UConn Health and additional center and departmental research resources located on the Storrs campus. Representatives from scientific supply and service vendors will also be present to show off their newest products. Faculty, researchers and graduate students are welcome to attend. For more information please contact: Cindy Doherty at cindy.doherty@uconn.edu
A note regarding COR²E FY25 rates to be implemented Jan 1, 2025
11/26/2024
Over the last several months, COR²E has spent considerable time finalizing FY2025 budgets and calculating new rates for service and analysis across our core facilities. These rates were intended to go into effect at the beginning of FY2025 but were delayed and will now go into effect on January 1, 2025. COR²E’s budgeting exercises are extensive and allow us to estimate annual costs and adjust our hourly usage rates accordingly. The last time our rates were adjusted was the beginning of FY2023. As we are all acutely aware, prices for reagents and service have risen considerably since July 2022. Although internal usage of COR²E facilities is and will continue to be heavily subsidized by the OVPR, adjusting for rising costs is necessary to help recover annual expenses.
For FY2025, we’ve adjusted our rate calculation to allow our users to “pay their fair share” of the expenses incurred each year. Traditionally, we’ve estimated the total anticipated usage per instrument or service to calculate usage rates for the following year. However, for FY2025 we are implementing a change to this calculation and have instead used the reasonable total available usage per instrument or service to calculate new rates. This allows facility users to pay an amount proportional to their individual and actual usage for equipment and services instead of a greater share for services that were not heavily utilized. Since the total available usage time is commonly larger than the amount of anticipated usage for each service and/or instrument, user-operated hourly rates have decreased in most cases. For instruments that were already very heavily used, there will be less of an effect on FY2025 rates. For instruments that have required substantially increased service- or repair-related costs compared to years prior, FY2025 rates have increased to help recover a portion of these rising costs.
In the past, some training opportunities, assisted experiments, and/or provided services that require direct COR²E personnel support were billed at substantially lower rates than the dedicated personnel time truly cost the University. In FY2025, COR²E is making a conscious effort to recover a higher amount of direct personnel time spent supporting research. Across our core facilities, this necessitated an increase in the assisted rate for service or analysis. Again, facility users will pay their “fair share” of utilized personnel time. Ultimately, we anticipate that most users of COR²E facilities will not observe a large influence on the total amount spent using our resources due to these changes: the net change in rates is likely to be small since unassisted usage rates have generally decreased and personnel-related usage rates have generally increased.
If you have facility-specific questions regarding the new rate determination process or inquiries about specific rate changes, please contact the appropriate Facility Director. For additional questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at the below address.
Jeremy L. Balsbaugh, Ph.D. (Jeremy.Balsbaugh@uconn.edu)
Director, Center for Open Research Resources & Equipment (COR²E)
Director, UConn Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (PMF)
COR²E is searching for a Cryo EM Facility Director! Apply now to join our team.
11/14/2024
UConn Health and COR²E are seeking a non-tenure track Associate Professor/Basic Sciences to serve as Director of a newly established Cryo EM core facility that will be located at the medical research campus in Farmington, CT.
The primary responsibility for this position will be assisting users in planning and executing Cryo EM experiments that utilize a new Tundra Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope. It is expected that this position will include significant effort training users in all stages of analysis: grid preparation and clipping, data acquisition, and data handling. Primary daily responsibilities will include managing facility operations, providing routine microscope maintenance and troubleshooting, overseeing financial responsibilities of the facility, developing successful training modules in Cryo EM instrument operation, serving as a resource for guiding subsequent data processing and high-resolution analyses when needed, and supporting faculty grant applications that incorporate Cryo EM imaging and/or acquisition of new instrumentation.
Questions regarding this search should be addressed to hiring committee co-chairs Dr. Justin Radolf (jradolf@uchc.edu) and Dr. Victoria Robinson (Victoria.robinson@uconn.edu).
Looking for More?
In addition to COR²E, researchers also have access to many more departmental, school, or college level core facilities with sophisticated instrumentation and expertise to help support your research needs.