The Cellular Engineering and Mechanobiology Lab is located at the Translational Medicine Institute (TMI) at the south campus which is in closed proximity with the Flint Animal Cancer Center, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Orthopaedic Research Center and the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Laboratory. Therefore we have easy access to plenty of equipment and facilities in our vicinity. Besides, we have access to several core facilities in the main campus. Below you can find the equipment that is primarily used by our lab. The five primary dedicated spaces for our lab are: 1) Cell and tissue culture room, 2) Confocal microscopy room, 3) Molecular biology station, 4) Gel station, 5) General Lab bench area. The other facilities that we have access to in the same wet lab area and in the contiguous area (inside TMI building or adjacent buildings) are also listed in separate sections.
CELL AND TISSUE CULTURE ROOM
Biosafety cabinets
Several incubators
A floor top centrifuge
4 Degree centigrade refrigerator
-20 Degree centigrade freezer
-80 Degree centigrade freezer (in the contiguous freezer farm)
Cryogenic storage dewar (in the contiguous freezer farm)
Centralized liquid nitrogen filling pipeline
Dual water bath (two independent temperature can be set)
Cell culture microscope with 4X-40X objectives and a color camera; computer with dedicated image acquisition software
Dissection microscope with a color camera, computer with dedicated image acquisition software
Countess II FL automated cell counter
smaller items: vortex mixers, minicentrifuge, pipette sets etc.
Access to tri-gas incubators for hypoxic cell culture in the contiguous cell and tissue culture room, separate bacterial culture room
CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE
We recently procured a high end laser scanning confocal microscope – thanks to the generous contribution by the Translational Medicine Institute, Office of the Vice President of Research and several other sources. It is installed in the dedicated microscopy room in our lab. It opens a plethora of amazing capabilities which enable us to do live cell/ tissue high resolution spatiotemporal imaging, deep tissue imaging, fast imaging of large samples such as tissues, environmental control for long-term live event visualization such as chromatin remodeling, protein/ mRNA movement, intracellular structure and organelle reorganization and cell migration, multiple color imaging from the same sample – thanks to the spectral imaging ability), FRET imaging etc. This microscope enables us to ask technically challenging and ambitious scientific questions. The detailed specifications are as follows.
Zeiss LSM 980 – 34 channel PMT system and TPMT with (i) Airyscan 2 with Multiplex for super resolution and fast imaging, (ii) Laser lines: 405, 488, 561 and 639 nm diode lasers ( imaging possible with many more colors simultaneously from the same sample – thanks to the spectral imaging), (iii) Axio Observer 7 inverted body with definite focus, (iv) motorized XYZ piezo for fast imaging, (v) Environmental incubation control system (completely encasing the microscope), (vi) objectives: 2.5X, 10X, 20X, 40X and 63X oil, (vii) Full system computer/ workstation and separate offline computer/ workstation
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY STATION
Quantstudio 3 Real Time PCR system, with dedicated computer and software
Miniamp thermal cycler with touch screen
Nanodrop One UV-Vis spectrophotometer with cuvette (touch screen)
Sorvall Legend 21R temperature controlled microcentrifuge
Neon transfection system
Smaller items: vortex mixers, minicentrifuge, pipette sets etc
GEL STATION
iwestern workflow system (mini gel tank, iblot, ibind)
Horinzontal gel electrophoresis tank
Power source for gel electrophoresis
GENERAL LAB BENCH AREA
Lab benches and cabinets
Gravity oven
Orbital shaker
Rotator, shaker, dry bath
Smaller items: scales, vortex mixers, minicentrifuge, pipette sets, vacuum chamber, laboratory corona handheld corona treater etc.
Access to facility in wet lab area (common and other PI)
Autoclaves
Ice making machine
Mili-Q water stations
Untracentrifuge
4 degree centigrade room, dedicated chemical room, fume hoods
Cleanroom for nanofabrication
Plate reader
Miscellaneous equipment : gel doc, pH meter, untrasonic bath
Cryotome, Immunohistochemistry facility
Flow cytometry facility
Fluorescence microscope (widefield)
Access to facility in contiguous buildings and inside TMI
Spinning disk confocal microscope (at Flint Animal Cancer Center)
Chemiluminescence gel documentation system (at Flint Animal Cancer Center)
Mechanical characterization facility (at Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Center)
Histology facility (at Orthopaedic Bioengineering Research Center/ Orthopaedic Research Center)
Small animal husbandry facility (inside TMI)
Small and large animal imaging facility – CT, MRI (inside TMI)
Small and large animal surgical suite (inside TMI)
CORE FACILITIES IN MAIN CAMPUS THAT WE USE
Microscope Imaging Network for laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy, super resolution microscopy
Central Instrument Facility for mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy
Proteomics and metabolomics facility
Next generation sequencing and genomics
The histone source – protein purification facility
STUDENT AND FACULTY OFFICES
Students and faculty have their own offices adjacent to the lab space. There are several conference rooms that we can use, some having outstanding view of the Rockies.