Cellular and Molecular Biology
The cell biology laboratory is fully equipped for cell culture and routine biochemical and molecular biology procedures.
Cell culture facilities are comprised of six O2 and CO2 controlled incubators, two biological safety hoods, a Ruskinn INVIVO 300 workstation, two tissue culture microscopes, freezers (-80C, -20C and 4C) as well as liquid nitrogen tanks, and bench top and refrigerated centrifuges.
The microscopy area houses a state of the art microspectrofluorometry system (inverted NIKON Eclipse TE 2000-U microscope with epifluorescence and a Sutter filter switcher), equipped for quantifying cytosolic ion concentration, fluorescent dye transfer and image analysis using Metamorph. In addition an upright NIKON Eclipse E600 microscope is also equipped with epifluorescence and imaging software for immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical assays. For experiments requiring cells grown in dishes, a LEICA AF6500 inverted fluorescent microscope (with Image-Pro Plus software) is also available.
Also located within the laboratory are the following: pH meter, thermal cycler for PCR, luminometer, power supplies and equipment for electrophoresis, FilterMax F3 plate reader (with visible, fluorescent and luminescence capabilities), walk in cooler, dissection/necropsy room, mechanical testing machine (Enduratec Test bench), ultrapure water system, two fume hoods, and water baths. The lab has recently been outfitted with an BioRad CFX96 real-time PCR system and Biophotometer for analysis of DNA, RNA, and protein, as well as a dedicated bioimaging system for quantitation of Western chemiluminescence, fluorescence and ethidium bromide.