Imaging and X-ray core facilities
Karolinska Institutet offers a wide range of imaging and X-ray infrastructures. Our facilities collaborate closely with other world-leading centres to ensure that we stay at the forefront of the field.

3D-EM Core Facility
This is a new electron microscopy facility located in the Wargentin building at campus Solna. The 3D-EM Core Facility will be equiped with best possible apparatus and thereby enable a much broader group of researchers to utilize the enormous advances in electron microscopy in recent years. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
ANA Futura X-ray Facility
The ANA Futura X-ray Facility offers X-ray machines for irradiation of biological material, and is located at our campus area in Flemingsberg, South Stockholm region. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Autoradiography Core Facility
The autoradiography facility (ARG) is a core facility for radioligand binding and autoradiography, critical components in pharmacology and cellular signaling research, as well as for development of ligands for usage in positron emission tomography (PET). This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Biomedicum Imaging Core
Biomedicum Imaging Core Karolinska Institutet (BIC) is a close collaboration between two cell imaging core-facilities at KI Campus Solna (north) – the CLICK facility and the CMB microscope facility. These core facilities are equipped with top-notch imaging systems suitable for live cell time-lapse, deep tissue, ion, spectral, confocal or general fluorescence imaging, and much more. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Biomedicum X-ray Irradiation Facility
The Biomedicum X-ray Irradiation Facility offers an Xstrahl CIX2 X-ray machine for irradiation of biological material and is located at campus Solna, just north of Stockholm City. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Brain Molecular Imaging Centre
Brain Molecular Imaging Centre (BMIC) is a core facility for molecular imaging of the brain using positron emission tomography (PET). The aim of BMIC is to provide expertise and competence for brain imaging PET studies in human subjects and animals. BMIC supports research studies in for example psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative disorders and neuropsychopharmacology, but also a range of studies on other diseases and normal process in or outside the brain. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Electron Microscopy Unit
The Electron Microscopy Unit (EMil) offers conventional preparation for TEM and SEM, as well as preparation for immunohistochemistry, morphometric analysis, and low temperature techniques such as low temperature embedding, high pressure freezing and cryosectioning (Tokuyasu method). This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Histological Core Facility
The Histological core facility (HistoCore) is located in Biomedicum, campus Solna and has a number of cryostats, microtomes, dehydration machines and embedding platforms. At HistoCore you can do anything related to histology, from tissue preparation to histological stainings. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
KARMITH Core Facility
The Karolinska Microscopic Imaging in Thrombosis and Hemostasis (KARMITH) Core Facility is located at BioClinicum, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna. The purpose of the KARMITH Core Facility is to provide imaging service using state of the art technology primary in the field of thrombosis and hemostasis and cardiovascular research but potential users from other research fields are also welcome upon agreement.
Karolinska Experimental Research and Imaging Centre
Karolinska Experimental Research and Imaging Centre (KERIC) conducts Imaging analyses in experimental systems in combination with experimental surgery in large animals like swine as well as in rodents. This facility is managed by the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna (North Campus area). This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
KM X-ray irradiation facilities
This is an X-ray cabinet for irradiation of small animals managed by Comparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. The cabinets can be used for whole body irradiation or focal irradiation. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Live Cell Imaging Core Facility
The Live Cell Imaging (LCI) Core Facility is an advanced light microscopy facility with top-of-the-line widefield, confocal, light sheet, multiphoton and super resolution microscopes. Additionally, at the LCI, you can also laser-capture bits of tissues, print protein micropatterns and choose to run ultra-fast imaging, spectral detection, long term live cell imaging, high throughput pipelines.
We offer expert help for sample preparation and imaging and our in-house image analyst will help you build your analysis pipeline. The LCI facility puts education of researchers at the core of its activities with an in-depth user training and a yearly doctoral microscopy course. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
MR Center
The MR Research Center is a core facility that handles the MR Research capacity at the Neuroradiology Clinic at the Karolinska University Hospital. It is equipped with a 3 Tesla GE MR750 Discovery and located in Solna. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
National Facility for Magnetoencephalography
The Swedish National Facility for Magnetoencephalography (NatMEG) is the first and only research laboratory in Sweden for whole-head measurements of neuronal brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG). NatMEG regularly arranges activities such as invited talks, symposium, analysis workshops and user training. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Preclinical Imaging Facility
This is a small animal imaging hub at Flemingsberg campus, and a part of the Preclinical Laboratory (PKL). Preclinical Imaging Facility (PIF) together with PKL provides a full range of preclinical study services for academia and industry sectors, providing them with high quality preclinical study data.
Radiopharmacy Core Facility
Radiopharmacy Core Facility (RCF) is a combined core facility of Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet. The main purpose of RCF is to facilitate and promote the use and development of radiotracers in translational research, from preclinical to clinical applications within different areas. The development of novel radiotracers at RCF can be broadly applied for imaging research, for example in oncology, psychiatry, neurodegeneration, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Small Animal Molecular Imaging
SAMI – Small Animal Molecular Imaging – is a core facility that provides researcher and industry partners possibilities of multimodal (PET, CT, MRI) imaging measurements in rodents for studies related to for example: radioligand development, molecular imaging biomarker development, pharmacokinetics and drug development using radiolabelled substances, imaging experiments in translational animal models; tracking of novel administration routes. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Stockholm Medical Image Laboratory and Education
The Stockholm Medical Image Laboratory and Education (SMILE) is a joint core facility of Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, with the purpose to facilitate evaluation of medical digital images, irrespective of source. SMILE is the translational hub where clinicians, researchers and doctoral students from academy, healthcare and industry meet and benefit from the collected competence in image analysis, visualization and quantification. While using the images, tools and innovations for improved diagnostics and patient care, near collaboration with medtech companies is a prerequisite. This facility is available through the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab.
Other resources in this area
KI contact portal for core facilities
Already know what services and tools you are looking for? Login directly to the KI contact portal for core facilities in iLab to make a reservation. Please note that all core facilities are not available in iLab, and that certain guidelines apply to private enterprises and users from the health care sector other than clinical researchers.
Single point of contact
Didn't you find what you where looking for or are you unsure about which core facility to contact about a specific tool or analytic method? The KI SPOC for research infrastructure can be of assistance. Please note: Researchers within KI and Region Stockholm have priority.
Stories

New core facility offers world class imaging technique
In the basement of Wargentin House on Solna campus there are several cryogenic electron microscopes of the latest models, that can be used by both KI researchers and external customers. Read an interview with Martin Hällberg, director of our new 3D-EM facility.

New grant from the Swedish Research Council makes KI's brain-imaging lab NatMEG world-class
The national MEG lab at Karolinska Institutet is already the only lab in Sweden with equipment to measure neuronal brain activity in real time across the entire brain. Now, a new sensor-system upgrade to its technical equipment will make the lab an international leader in the field.