Does your institution provide specific physical facilities for interdisciplinary science research teams within applicable disciplines?
Yes. Tzu Chi University provides dedicated physical facilities that support interdisciplinary science research teams. Through its Core Facility Center and shared research infrastructure, the university offers common laboratories, shared instrument rooms, flow cytometry laboratories, bioimaging laboratories, biomedical core research facilities, training classrooms, and meeting rooms. These facilities are managed as university-level shared resources rather than being limited to individual laboratories, which facilitates collaboration across departments and disciplines.
In addition, the university maintains specialized platforms relevant to interdisciplinary science, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare Data Science Center branch at Tzu Chi University, the Laboratory Animal Center, and recently supported facilities such as the AI Computing Center and the Smart Biomedical Chip Research Center. Together, these facilities provide physical infrastructure for cross-disciplinary work spanning biomedical science, data science, engineering, and translational research.
2.1 Core Instrumentation Centre — Eight Facility Clusters
The TCU Core Instrumentation Centre comprises more than 30 pieces of major scientific equipment organised across eight thematic clusters, all accessible to researchers from across the institution’s colleges and affiliated teaching hospitals. The eight clusters are:
■ Flow Cytometry Laboratory: Multi-parameter cell analysis for immunology, oncology, and molecular biology
■ DNA Analysis Laboratory: Genomic sequencing and genotyping support
■ General Instrumentation Laboratory: Broad-use analytical equipment
■ Electron Microscopy Suite: Transmission and scanning electron microscopy
■ Confocal Microscopy Suite: High-resolution fluorescence imaging
■ Biomedical Nanotechnology Laboratory: Nanomaterial synthesis and characterisation
■ Proteomics Laboratory: Protein expression, purification, and interaction analysis
■ Surgical Simulation and Behavioural Observation Laboratory: Translational and in vivo research support
Non-specialist equipment clusters operate on a 24-hour open-access model; specialist suites are managed by dedicated technical staff with online booking available. This model explicitly supports interdisciplinary access by removing departmental barriers to instrumentation.
■ Core Instrumentation Centre: Facility overview and booking system [Link]
■ Core Facility Center: shared laboratory facilities [Link]
2.2 Laboratory Animal Centre — Established 1998
The TCU Laboratory Animal Center (LAC), established in 1998 and maintained in compliance with AAALAC international principles, provides a full range of biomedical research animal models and surgical facilities. The LAC houses internationally advanced imaging and experimental equipment including a 7.0 Tesla small-animal MRI system, IVIS Spectrum 3D quantitative bioluminescence/fluorescence imaging, micro-CT high-resolution in vivo computed tomography, Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL-2) containment suites, and dedicated behavioural observation rooms. Shared access to these high-value assets is available to researchers from across disciplinary boundaries, facilitating neuroscience–pharmacology–genetics and comparable cross-domain research programmes.
■ Laboratory Animal Centre — Facility Map & Equipment: Room-by-room specifications and access procedures [Link]
2.3 Medical Simulation Centre — Nationally Unique Facility
TCU operates the only medical simulation centre of its kind in Taiwan, incorporating eight full-specification surgical procedure bays. This facility has served as an internationally recognised site for integrating surgical science with humanistic medicine education; it has been visited by delegations from Oxford University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, and leading institutions across Southeast Asia. The Centre constitutes dedicated shared infrastructure at the intersection of clinical science, medical education, and medical humanities.
2.4 Ministry of Health and Welfare Research Sub-Centre
As described under Q1, the MoHW Health Data Sub-Centre at TCU constitutes dedicated physical and digital infrastructure for large-scale, cross-disciplinary population health research. Its resources are accessible to researchers from public health, medicine, social work, and epidemiology — all within a single institutional access framework.
2.5 Research Space Allocation per Faculty Member
Each full-time faculty member is allocated 5–8 ping (approximately 16.5–26.4 m²) of dedicated research space, and 10–15 ping (approximately 33–49.5 m²) of laboratory space. Total usable floor space per student stands at 81.23 m², among the highest ratios in Taiwan’s private university sector. These allocations meet and in several cases exceed the standards required for independent interdisciplinary laboratory operations.
■ Faculty Research Space Data: Institutional profile on Pure Scholars [Link]
