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Home Biological Sciences Research Centers

Biology Research Centers and Programs

 

ACRE: The Institute for Agricultural and Conservation Research and Education

The Institute will bring together a vibrant community of scientists, engineers, and students dedicated to developing groundbreaking solutions to critical challenges in food, agriculture, conservation, and sustainability. We will collaborate with industry partners to address issues impacting the future of sustainable agriculture and propel the city and the region into the forefront of agricultural innovation. We will attract and train a diverse and talented student body to become the next generation of leaders in science and engineering. Through this work, we will strengthen the competitiveness of the region as a destination for businesses and grow opportunities for high-paying jobs in Memphis and the Mid-South. Visit the ACRE website for full details.

Bioinformatics Certificate Program

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that combines mathematical and computer sciences with biology and/or medicine. With the recent advancements in biotechnology, biologists are frequently overloaded with large datasets that need to be stored and analyzed in automated ways. Bioinformatics provides the tools to understand complex biological systems ranging from entire ecological systems to specific human diseases, to cellular and molecular networks. Learn more about the Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics that the department offers.

Data Science also offers an MS program, which has a biomedical track option. Visit the MS program in Data Science website for full details.

Center for Biodiversity Research (CBio)

CBio is dedicated to advancing our knowledge of biodiversity at all levels of organization, from the molecular building blocks of life, to the biosphere, as well as the relationships between humans and biodiversity. We seek to increase the volume, impact and visibility of research at the UofM by encouraging, enabling, and supporting collaborative biodiversity research and graduate student training. Our work falls into three broadly overlapping focal areas of biodiversity science: (1) ecology, evolution, and organismal biology, (2) genetics, genomics and bioinformatics, and (3) conservation, global change, education, agriculture and urban environments.

Visit the Center for Biodiversity Research website for more information.

Edward J. Meeman Biological Station

The Edward J. Meeman Biological Station is the department's primary field research and teaching venue for ecology, environmental biology, and natural history. A member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), the main station property consists of 623 acres of forests, ponds, and meadows that encompass upland areas of the Chickasaw bluffs as well as bottomland habitats near the Mississippi River.

This habitat diversity and proximity to the largest river in North America makes Meeman Station an ideal location for research in both terrestrial and aquatic ecology. Moreover, being only 23 miles from the main campus and having both classroom and dormitory facilities, Meeman is able to provide students with a wealth of hands-on learning experiences in field course offered during regular semesters and summer sessions.

Visit the Edward J. Meeman Biological Station website for more information.

Integrated Microscopy Center

The Integrated Microscopy Center (IMC) is a resource facility of the University of Memphis. It provides expertise in the use of microscopy to students, faculty and researchers at the University of Memphis and throughout the immediate area. The IMC houses light microscopes and electron microscopes and ancillary equipment sample preparation. The IMC is accredited by the State of Tennessee and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to prepare clinical samples for electron microscopy.

The IMC includes the new Materials Science Laboratory now open (located in the Integrated Microscopy Center in the basement of the Life Sciences Building).

Featuring an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) and a class 1000 clean room equipped with a deposition unit, photo-lithography station, wire bonder and spin coater, the Materials Science Lab is the first of its kind in west Tennessee. With professional staff and equipment enabling research and training for students, postdocs, and researchers in micro-fabrication and surface characterization, this facility significantly enhances the University's capabilities and competitiveness in the targeted growth area of interdisciplinary materials science.

Visit the Integrated Microscopy Center website for more information.

The University of Memphis Herbarium

The University of Memphis Herbarium is a natural history collection consisting of over 18,000 plant specimens from scientific collections worldwide. Most of the accessions are vascular plants from the Southeastern US, with an emphasis on those of Tennessee and Kentucky. Orphaned for more than 30 years, the herbarium was revived in 2014 and is now accessioning new specimens with high quality data into the collection. All specimen data are published online and continually updated, and are freely available to researchers everywhere.

The information generated by the collection is used for a wide variety of research interests including

  • Climate change modeling
  • Historical habitat and landscape mapping
  • Tracking the introduction of pathogens and invasive species
  • Phenology studies
  • Production of floras
  • Biogeography and diversification studies

The herbarium itself is used to safely store the voucher specimens generated and used in plant research from the various labs on campus, to supply plant material for anatomical and genetic studies, as a tool for plant identification, and as a campus resource for teaching materials.

Herbarium staff are conducting their own research on the vascular plants of West Tennessee and the Lower Mississippi River Basin. This area has not been well studied, and the reopening of the herbarium has been a catalyst for the renewed interest of regional botanists, students, and amateur naturalists.

International collection code MEM. Visit the Herbarium.