Equip our students and researchers with new instrumentation in our labs!

I’m Alex, Professor and Chair for the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. Our department, one of the highest ranked in the country, offers innovative educational programs. We also conduct cutting-edge research. Experimentation in the lab is central to the work we do.

In November of 2023, we launched a fundraising campaign to support the purchase of new instrumentation for our facilities, the UCLA Molecular Instrumentation Center (MIC) and the UCLA-DOE Biochemistry Instrumentation Core Facility (BIF). For more information on these spaces, please continue scrolling down the page. As of June 2024, we've raised $19,200. The next phase of our campaign continues here on Spark.

Chemistry and Biochemistry are experimental disciplines. Ensuring our students and researchers have access to operable and current equipment is essential to their development as scientists and working professionals. I know this firsthand because I was in their shoes not too long ago.

I was trained as an experimental chemist in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. The MIC and BIF housed my late-night experiments, when it was cheaper for me to run them. I remember sipping on coffee while working with the instrumentation, learning and troubleshooting. This experience was invaluable for me early in my career. In fact, it inspired me to become an educator.

Students need hands-on experience with instrumentation to grow academically and professionally. Instrumentation will equally aid our researchers working tirelessly on the next breakthrough. Will you stand with me, the department, and the Division of Physical Sciences and make a gift today?

We aim to raise $22,000 of seed funding for new lab purchases. Because we feel so strongly about this initiative, we are matching gifts of any size 1:1 and qualifying gifts 2:1. This is a unique opportunity to double or triple your impact.

To learn more about the double match offer (gifts $5-100K), please contact Loida De Leon, Director of Development, at ldeleon@support.ucla.edu or 310-403-3043.

Molecular Instrumentation Center (MIC)

The MIC is a campuswide, state-of-the-art core facility that enables the use of modern instrumentation in molecular characterizations. The MIC is housed within and managed through the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, and is open for Bruin researchers, other academic institutions and commercial enterprises. The purpose of the MIC is to meet the needs of the UCLA scientific community by providing all aspects of technical support in the application of modern instrumentation to solve problems in cutting-edge scientific research.

Biochemistry Instrumentation Core Facility (BIF)

The UCLA-DOE Biochemistry Instrumentation Core Facility provides the UCLA biochemistry community with easy access to sophisticated instrumentation for a wide variety of biomolecular characterizations, including molecular weight determination, kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of ligand binding, structural characterization, gel documentation and analysis, radioisotope detection, and quantification and spectroscopy.

►Instructions for giving via Donor Advised Fund, wire transfer, stocks/securities, etc. can be found here. All gifts to the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry are directed through the UCLA Foundation (Tax ID# 95-2250801). For general giving questions, please contact Loida De Leon at ldeleon@support.ucla.edu or (310) 405-3043. 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS

Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments. 

Gifts are managed and invested in accordance with UCLA’s endowment investment policies. The total return earned in excess of the amount approved annually for payout will be retained in the endowment principal to protect from the effects of inflation and to allow for growth. At the discretion of the appropriate campus office, when the payout is not needed for purposes of the fund, the return of payout may be added to the endowment fund principal. In the event the fund does not reach endowment minimum; or the program ceases to exist at UCLA, proceeds from the fund will be utilized in an area and manner as closely related as possible to the original intent and purposes for which the fund was established.

Although the Endowment is intended to exist in perpetuity, unforeseen circumstances may alter or remove the subject area from the campus academic plan or it may become impossible, impracticable or wasteful to administer. In such an event, the Chancellor is authorized to redesignate the purpose of the Endowment, after taking into consideration the designated endowment purpose.