HMRI offers a range of facilities, equipment, training and inductions available to affiliated researchers.

Clinical Research Facility

The state-of-the-art HMRI Clinical Trial Facilities are located in the HMRI Building.

The area allows researchers to conduct clinical trials with an unprecedented ability to achieve accurate study results and track research outcomes.

For assistance with clinical trial coordiniation, see HMRI Clinical Trials Unit

Services for Researchers:

  • Clinical contact rooms
  • Specialised cough challenge clinic
  • Lung function machine
  • Expired nitrous oxide clinic
  • Nutrition lab
  • Access to HMRI parking for participants

If you wish to access the Clinical Trial Facilities, please make an enquiry and HMRI will send you a copy of the HMRI Clinical Trials Facilities Guidelines.

All personnel using the HMRI Clinical Trial Facilities are required to be informed of the operational guidelines and sign the confirmation at the end of the HMRI Clinical Trial Facilities Guideline document as well as completing the induction checklist.

If you would like to enquire or book a room within the Clinical Trial Facilities please contact the unit with the following information: participant, name of the researcher, name of the clinical trial, preferred room booking times and duration, the preferred room and parking requirements.

All confidential participant information is held securely and is not otherwise visible or available.

The Clinical Research Facility is located on level 4 of the HMRI building and contains state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for researchers including clinical contact rooms, a specialised cough challenge clinic, lung function machine, expired nitrous oxide clinic, nutrition lab and even car parking for participants. If you wish to make an enquiry or book the clinical trials centre, please phone HMRI Reception on 02 4042 0000 or email directly at crf@hmri.org.au 

 Confocal Microscopy 
A confocal microscope is available for use by HMRI affiliated researchers. Extremely high quality images are able to be produced from a wide variety of tissue preparations using the Leica TCS SP8 MultiPhoton confocal microscope. To enquire about training or use of this microscope, please contact Associate Professor Rohan Walker at Rohan.Walker@newcastle.edu.au
HMRI Imaging Centre
The HMRI Imaging Centre is one of the first facilities in the world to house a state-of-the-art Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3T scanner devoted entirely to medical research imaging purposes.

The HMRI Imaging Centre is co-located with the HMRI Building on the Rankin Park Campus in Newcastle.

What can the Imaging Centre be used for?

Researchers can use Imaging Centre to carry out their imaging component of the research using 3T MRI scanner. We have the capability to perform high-quality structural, functional, and spectroscopy studies. The MRI scanner is available for clinical and biomedical use.

How do I book?

Please submit an enquiry to the Senior Radiographer or Facility Manager at hmri-imagingcentre@newcastle.edu.au to discuss the feasibility of your project and to organise a trial.

Click here for further information

Contact

Facility Manager - Associate Professor Saad Ramadan. Email: saadallah.ramadan@newcastle.edu.au. Ph. 02 4042 0573
Senior Radiographer - Mrs Shiami Luchow. Email: hmri-imagingcentre@newcastle.edu.au. Phone 02 4042 0905
Centre Co-ordinator - Ms Shirley Savy. Email: shirley.savy@newcastle.edu.au. Phone. 02 4921 5603

Histology Facility

The HMRI Histology Facility provides a range of cost-effective, high-quality and efficient histology services available for use by all HMRI affiliated researchers. 

The Histology Facility has experienced technical staff and specialised equipment to ensure your research is of the highest quality.

Services offered by the CHF include:

  • Digital imaging (20x and 40x)
  • Slide preparation
  • Slide staining
  • Tissue embedding
  • Tissue processing
  • Tissue sectioning (Cryo)
  • Tissue sectioning (FFPE)

Direct access to the following equipment is offered after training and induction requirements are met:

  • Cryostat
  • Microtome
  • Embedding station

Contact
For detail on services and access please contact HMRI Histology on (02) 4042 0663 or email histology@hmri.org.au

Biobanking
Hunter Cancer Biobank offers a range of services related to supply of tissue for research. Collecting and distributing solid tissues (FFPE and fresh frozen), liquid biopsies and protocol driven collections, the Hunter Cancer Biopbank offers a range of services including clinical trials facilitation, cataloguing and storage of new and established collections, bespoke Tissue Microarray generation and speciality, automated Immunohistochemistry services. Click here to find out more  
Single Cell Analysis

In order to assess single cells within an experiment, a single cell analysis (SCA) laboratory is available to HMRI affiliated researchers.

This laboratory houses four core instruments; the 10x Genomics Chromium Controller, the Fluidigm C1 Single-Cell AutoPrep System, the Juno™ controller and the BioMark™ HD System.  

These single-cell technologies are capable of measuring expression of mRNA, microRNA and lncRNA, and can also perform single-cell DNA sequencing, targeted resequencing, and assessment of chromatin accessibility.

Depending on the assay, tens to thousands of cells can be processed in parallel. 

The facility also offers a full range of ancillary equipment where users can prepare their samples in convenient proximity to the SCA instrumentation.

This includes cell culture incubators and biohazard cabinets, a pre-PCR cabinet, a Bravo NGS robotic platform, thermal cyclers and centrifuges. 

To access these technologies or learn more, please contact Trish Collinson by emailing trish.collinson@newcastle.edu.au 

Genomic Analysis
The Hunter Genomics Facility offers a wide range of high-quality and efficient services for the analysis of DNA and RNA. 

Services currently offered by the facility include:

  • Next Generation Sequencing
    • Plattforms
      • NovaSeq
      • NextSeq
      • MiSeq
    • Type of sequencing
      • DNA (Exome, whole genome, custom, single cell (10X genomics))
      • RNA (mRNA, whole transcriptome, small RNA) 
  • Microarray
    • Plattform
      • iScan
    • Type of Microarray
      • microRNA
      • DNA methylation
      • SNP
  • Extractions
    • RNA
    • DNA
  • ddPCR
    • gene expression
    • mutation
    • CNV

​Contact: Xiajie (Summer) Zhang, PhD
Hunter Genomics Facility Coordinator

(02) 404 20235

E: Xiajie.zhang@newcastle.edu.au

Hunter.genomics@newcastle.edu.au

Address: Level 3 West, Hunter Medical Research Institute