Scientific Instrument and Equipment Center of IOZ (hereinafter referred to as the "Institutional Center") is a public platform for the intensive management and shared services of large-scale instruments and equipment at the Institute of Zoology（IOZ）. It established in 2009, and was one of the first batch of institutional  centers for shared technologies and facilities, preferentially supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It serves as a crucial component supporting scientific and technological innovation within the institute. Under the guidance of the Technical Platform Management Committee, the Center is primarily responsible for the planning and construction of the institute's technical platforms, the open sharing, operation and management of instruments and equipment, technical team building, scientific research support, and technical services and training. With the core objective of building an advanced, fully functional, openly shared, and highly efficient technical support system, it provides a solid technical foundation for enhancing the institute's research capabilities and facilitating the output of major scientific achievements.

The Institutional Center comprises two main platforms: the Organ Regeneration and Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Platform (West Area Platform) and the Animal Diversity Conservation and Pest Control Technology Platform (East Area Platform). The West Area Platform includes eight sub-platforms: the Cell and Tissue Microscopy Imaging Platform, Flow Cytometry-Based Cell Analysis and Sorting Platform, Small Animal Imaging and Behavior Analysis Platform, Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform, Electrophysiology Platform, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Platform, Medium and Small-Scale Conventional Equipment Platform, and the Organoid Intelligent Manufacturing and Imaging Analysis Platform (under construction). The East Area Platform contains five sub-platforms: the Phenotype Platform, Chemistry Platform, Imaging Platform, Molecular Platform, and Bioinformatics Computing Platform. The Institutional Center offers comprehensive technical services covering multiple fields, including microscopy imaging, cell analysis, small animal behavior analysis and imaging, organoid 3D printing and cultivating, electrophysiology, proteomics, mass spectrometry, chromatography, electron microscopy, and bioinformatics computing, etc. All instruments and equipment are openly shared on the National Network Management Platform for Major Research Infrastructure and Large-scale Research Instruments（http://nrii.org.cn） and the CAS Instrument and Equipment Sharing Management Platform（http://samp.cas.cn）.

While continuously improving platform capabilities, the instrument administrators of the Institutional Center actively explore new technologies and methods. To date, they have obtained 5 Chinese invention patents, and received the "Outstanding Collective Award" of the Beijing Life Science Regional Center, and 2 individuals have been selected as "CAS Key Technology  Talents".

In addition to supporting the research needs of the institute and member units of the Regional Center, the Institutional Center has achieved significant results in actively promoting the establishment of platforms for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, supporting clinical research, and serving local economic development. We sincerely welcome users with needs for large-scale instruments and equipment to contact us for collaboration to jointly advance scientific research innovation and technological development.

Looking ahead, the Institutional Center will continue to focus on major national strategic needs and frontier directions in life sciences, further integrate advantageous resources, expand technological boundaries, and deepen the interdisciplinary integration. It is committed to building an open technical support and collaborative innovation platform with enhanced international competitiveness.

Institutional Center for Shared Technologies and Facilities, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
E-mail: liulin@ioz.ac.cn

Website: https://ioz.cas.cn/gb2018/kypt/ggjszx/zxjj/