Our lab is equipped with:

1. Category 2 tissue culture facility with two class II hoods, five humidified CO2 incubators, tissue culture microscope,

and our cell lines are stored in our own LN2 cell bank.

 

2. Dedicated microscopy room with (1) a Leica DM2500 fluorescence/confocal system fitted with a Retiga R1 monochrome CCD camera and a Jena Piezo unit for 3D imaging, (2) an inverted Zeiss fluorescence microscope with Fluar objectives, Colibri LED light source, Axiocam MR monochrome camera and Axiovision 4.7 with the Physiology package for rapid intracellular Ca2+ measurement, (3) an inverted Zeiss fluorescence microscope fitted with  Fluar objectives, an Orca Flash 4.0 sCMOS monochrome camera, two Cairn high speed filter wheels and MetaFluor software for dual ratiometric Ca2+ imaging and (4) an upright Leica DM2500 fluorescence microscope fitted with a colour Zeiss Axiocam and Axiovision 4.0 software for light microscopy.

 

3. Main lab, dedicated fume cupboard for lipid biochemistry, Shimadzu 10 series HPLC with fluorescence and absorbance detectors, Shimadzu RF5301 spectrofluorimeter for Ca2+ transport experiments in cellular subfractions, BMG labtech fluorescence and luminescence plate readers, Tecan absorbance plate reader, MACS magnetic separators, western blotting and electrophoresis equipment, -80 freezer, nearby access to cold room, 37degC room, ultracentrifuges and departmental microscopy suite.

 

4. Aquarium facility with automated maintenance and a dissection stereomicroscope equipped with a Narishige micro-injector and a modified GoPro with C mount adapter for high speed (90fps) imaging for behavioural analysis.

 

In addition, we have numerous items of smaller equipment including a gene gun, tissue ruptor and sonicator and have access to collaborative instruments including electron microscopy, patch clamping and single channel recording apparatus. We’ve also created some home-made equipment, including an LED gel reader and this gel doc: