The BIU is a joint facility of University of Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖÆåÅÆ_Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖAPP-¹ÙÍø|ÏÂÔØ / University Hospital Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖÆåÅÆ_Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖAPP-¹ÙÍø|ÏÂÔØ NHS Foundation Trust and provides diagnostic services in electron microscopy for UHS, other NHS Trusts and hospitals overseas.

Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖÆåÅÆ_Ìì·¢ÓéÀÖAPP-¹ÙÍø|ÏÂÔØ diagnostic services include:

• transmission electron microscopy of a variety of biopsy types for pathological conditions that still can only be diagnosed by ultrastructural analysis (especially renal disease (diagnosed by ultrastructural alterations to the basement membranes of kidney cells), muscle and nerve).
• scanning electron microscopy of hair samples.
• sectioning of recovered wire stents.
• X-ray microanalysis of pathological inclusions using scanning or transmission electron microscopy.

Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Service

We are also one of 3 national referral units funded by the NHS National Commissioning Group for the specialist diagnosis of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) through combined light and electron microscopy approaches, providing services to the Southwest? of England and further afield (including Eire, Northern Ireland and Wales). PCD is a syndrome of rare hereditary diseases that affect the structure, function and behaviour of cilia in the airways, impairing lung clearance and producing lung disease. Other biological processes that involve cilia / flagellae, from patterning of the early embryo through to fertility in adults can also be affected. Clinical Diagnosis of PCD includes:

• clinical history and referral for persistent chronic respiratory infection.
• collection of ciliated epithelia cells by brushing the nasal passages.
• high speed video microscopy of ciliated nasal epithelial cells to reveal defects in ciliary beat frequency, stroke pattern and coordination.
• transmission electron microscopy of ciliated nasal epithelial cells to examine the ultrastructure of individual cilia and look for missing or misarranged ciliary components.

The University's Faculty of Medicine also contains a PCD research group which undertakes basic scientific research into ciliary function and develops new methods to facilitate diagnosis and investigation of PCD.

Accreditation

Within UHS we are part of the wider Cellular Pathology Division which holds ISO 15189 accreditation .

Enquiries

For all enquiries about our NHS diagnostic services, please contact Patricia Goggin ( p.goggin@soton.ac.uk ).