Since its inception in 2012, IRCAN has been dedicated to creating and operating cutting-edge Technical Core Facilities designed to enhance and support groundbreaking research projects and educational initiatives. These facilities, pivotal to IRCAN’s goal of fostering high-caliber scientific research, welcome both internal and external research groups from academic and industrial sectors in accordance with their GIS IBiSA certification. They are managed by highly skilled engineer and researcher staff linked with local and national networks of expertise’s.
These platforms offer technical and scientific expertise and services, from original pre-clinical models (marine models, spheroids, etc.) to high-throughput screening and statistical analysis (flow/imaging cytometry and image analysis), high-resolution and multi-dimensional imaging (confocal, spectral, evanescent wave and Airyscan imaging).
The development of these Technical Core Facilities and Common Services has been made possible through the committed efforts of IRCAN staff and substantial contributions from the Université Côte d’Azur, Inserm, CNRS, ARC, GIS IBiSA, Cancéropôle PACA, the Ville de Nice, the Department 06, the Region Sud, and the European Commission (FEDER Program).
ANTIAGE and 3D-Hub-S are certified by the GIS IBiSA since 2024. PICMI/PICMI AFM and CYTOMED are partners of the “Microscopie Imagerie Cytometrie Azur” multi-site platform certified by the GIS IBiSA since 2010, which gathers resources and skills from 8 academic partners in the Côte d’Azur.
ANTIAGE
The Pasteur-IRCAN Marine Invertebrate Facility for (anti)Aging Research (ANTIAGE) combines internationnaly recongized expertise and state-of-the-art aquarium and experimention systems and provides access to marine invertebrate research models to study research stress response, regeneration and aging/longevity.
3D-Hub-S
The 3D-Hub-S platform is expert in the study of the tumour microenvironment: interactions with stromal, endothelial and immune cells, fibroblasts, adipocytes and pericytes within a complex extracellular matrix. Its aim is to provide expertise and models in the field of multicellular spheroids and tumoroids that faithfully reproduce the complex ecosystem of solid tumours, and to contribute to the development and validation of anti-tumour therapies.
Imaging Core Facility – PICMI
The Pasteur-IRCAN Molecular and Cellular Imaging Platform (PICMI) combines expertise in light microscopy and 2D/3D image analysis for the life sciences with highly specialized equipment and software to help characterize cell and tissue morphologies and phenotypes.
AFM Core Facility – PICMI
IRCAN’s biological atomic force microscopy facility (AFM-PICMI) is the only one to date providing the Côte d’Azur scientific community with atomic force microscopy for life sciences. It offers a unique expertise in optimizing and developing applications for the nano-characterization (topography and nanomechanics) of biological samples, ranging from cell and tissue to single molecule.
Cytometry platform – CytoMed
CytoMed is an expert in flow cytometry analysis, cell sorting and cell suspension preparation. On the Côte d’Azur, it is the only MICA partner able to offer original systems for sorting large organisms and flow fluorescence imaging to analyse the heterogeneity of organisms or cell populations.
Find out what projects IRCAN researchers are working on at the moment!
Find out about our platforms and services that drive our research.
IRCAN has a diverse research teams, tackling a wide range and resolution of topics in ageing and cancer.
