The lab was established in August 2010, and Dobrucki was asked to come aboard as director for his expertise in nuclear imaging with radioactive isotopes. Shortly after, Dobrucka joined the lab as a research scientist, and in just a few years, they made the MIL a place for leading-edge research, state-of-the-art imaging services, and student mentorship. Now, Dobrucki has been hired as a tenure-track professor of bioengineering and will use the lab as a researcher. Dobrucka has been promoted to director.

For the past few years, the two have worked together to build the lab from the ground up after a National Science Foundation (NSF) major instrumentation grant and Beckman Foundation funds assisted with the construction and equipment purchases. The lab features a multimodal microPET/SPECT/CT scanner, and it, like other facilities at Beckman, offers its services to any academic or industrial researcher. They have developed collaborations reaching from the Urbana-Champaign campus to international groups in Poland, Greece, and Germany.

“The MIL functions to serve our collaborators,” Dobrucka said. “We continually expand our services and update our capabilities in order to meet the researchers’ needs. In the beginning of our collaboration, they come to us with a problem, discuss their needs and availability of funding, and from that point we build the best imaging strategy for them, teach them how to use the equipment, and provide technical guidance along the way.”

Transitioning from a research scientist to director, Dobrucka says her duties changed quite a bit.

“Before, I was more focused on daily routine aspects of the lab and my research only. Now I work on global strategy of how to run the lab. I run various projects, contact the PIs, perform calibration tests, while continuing to look for new collaborations and develop new possibilities for grant writing,” Dobrucka said.