Page 13 - The Hormel Institute 2024 Annual Report

The Minnesota Bioimaging Center (MBiC), established at The Hormel Institute, houses some of the world’s most advanced bioimaging technology.
MBiC leverages and expands
our unique technological capabilities for high-resolution, single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy
(cryoEM) and creates a center that will use several imaging platforms capable of correlative imaging across live cell imaging to tomography and beyond.
Our MBiC bioimaging technology also fosters collaborations with the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, and other collaborators throughout the Midwest to accelerate discoveries throughout the region—the benefits of which can reach all corners of the globe. As project phases continue, MBiC will ultimately become a state-of-the-art biomedical and agricultural research center and STEM educational facility unlike anywhere else in the country—right here in rural Austin, Minnesota.
MBIC VISITS THE MINNESOTA STATE CAPITOL
Austin Port Authority, Minnesota state legislators, and members from The Hormel Institute held a press conference at the Minnesota State Capitol to share awareness and support for the Minnesota Bioimaging Center (MBiC) in the state’s 2024 bonding bill.
“The MBiC expansion project is for research, infrastructure, workforce development, and STEM education across the state, putting Minnesota and Minnesotans at the forefront of what’s happening in research in the United States. What we discover has implications for everyone.”
–Dr. Robert Clarke, Executive Director
New equipment will be installed and used for cutting-edge experiments that will allow us to look into patient tissues, infected cells, and solve the high-resolution structures of disease-causing organisms. This is for the first time. We are bringing this technology to Minnesota and it
is truly transformational.
–Dr. Susan Hafenstein, CryoEM Scientific Director
BIPARTISAN LEGIS􏰀TORS VISIT THE HORMEL INSTITUTE
Last fall we were honored to be on the tour of top projects by both the Senate
and House Capital Investment Committees. In April, Gov. Walz visited the Institute to meet with local leaders and learn of our recent progress in groundbreaking biomedical and agricultural research and several of our expanding education and outreach initiatives.
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MINNESOTA BIOIMAGING CENTER