Techniques
A range of molecular, physiological, and analytical techniques are established in our lab. In the following, you can find an overview of the equipment available. If you are interested in a collaboration, please feel free to contact us.
Culture facilities
- fully air-conditioned greenhouse space;
- Siemens high-light walk-in growth room, two Percival AR-75HIL cabinets, Percival E-30B compact cabinet, Percival CU-36/4 tissue culture cabinet, and Conviron Adaptis A-1000 TC cabinet for plant cultivation;
- automatic titrators to control solution pH of hydroponic cultures;
- various shaking incubators and cabinets for culture of bacteria and yeast;
- CO2 incubator for culture of mammalian cells.
Molecular biology and protein biochemistry
- PCR thermocyclers, gel chambers and gel documentation system for DNA and RNA work;
- four-channel realtime PCR machine (Eppendorf Realplex S4) for gene expression analysis (joint with the Plant Breeding and Phytopathology groups);
- Nanodrop ND-2000c microliter spectrometer for nucleic acid quantification;
- hybridizing oven (UVP HB-1000);
- SDS-PAGE and Western blotting facilities for protein characterization.
Luminescence
- PC-controlled tube luminometer (Berthold Detection Systems Sirius-1) for luminometric assays;
- ultra-sensitive high-resolution photon-counting camera system (Photek HRPCS-4) fitted to dark box with Peltier heated/cooled stage for macroscopic imaging of luminescence.
Both systems are mainly used for the detection of calcium signals by aequorin luminescence. The photon-counting camera is also suitable for HRP-based Western blot analysis.
Microscopy and imaging
- upright fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axioskop);
- inverse fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axiovert 40);
- high-performance fluorescence stereomicroscope (Zeiss SteREO Discovery V.20 with PentaFluar S);
- stereomicroscope (Zeiss Stemi SV11);
- high-resolution digital cameras (Zeiss Axiocam HRc and MRc) for colour imaging and morphometry (operated by AxioVision software);
- Zeiss CellObserver HS system, comprising a Zeiss AxioObserver D1 motorised microscope, Colibri LED and HXP 120 light sources, and a DualCam twin-camera option for high-speed ratio imaging of living cells (System operated by AxioVision Physiology software);
- automated perfusion system (AutoMate ValveLink 8.2);
- microtome (Leica RM 2145), cryostat (Microm HM 505 E), and vibrating microtome (Zeiss Hyrax V.50) for specimen sectioning.
Electrophysiology
- patch clamp amplifier (Axopatch 200B-2) with data acquisition system (Digidata 1440 A) and electrophysiology software (pCLAMP10);
- oscilloscope (Textronix TDS2012B);
- micromanipulator (Eppendorf 5171) attached to inverse fluorescence microscope (Zeiss Axiovert 135);
- pipette puller (Sutter P-97) and coating/polishing microforge (ALA CPM-2).
Analytical techniques
- C/N analyzer (Vario EL, Elementar) coupled to 15N spectrometer (NOI 7) for the quantification of C, N, and 15N;
- Büchi destillation unit for total N determination;
- flame photometer (Jenway PFP 7) for determination of K+, Na+, Li+, and Ca2+;
- osmometer (Gonotec Osmomat 030) for determination of osmotic potentials;
- UV/Vis spectrophotometer (Analytic Jena Specord 200);
- microplate absorbance reader (BioRad benchmark);
- multimode microplate reader for luminescence, fluorescence, and absorbance (Berthold Mithras LB 940);
- GC-FID/ECD (Varian GC 3400);
- GC-MS (Fisons GC 8000 with MD 800), on loan to the Institute of Pharmacy (Prof B Dräger);
- ICP-OES (HORIBA Jobin-Yvon Ultima-2), operated by the Soil Science laboratory (Dr K Kaiser);
- HPLC system (Merck-Hitachi L-7000 series ) fitted with diode array, fluorescence and conductivity detectors.
Gas exchange, stomatal conductance, and leaf turgor measurements
- porometer (Delta-T Devices AP-4);
- magnetic leaf turgor pressure probe (ZIM Plant Technology);
- stationary gas exchange system based on a LICOR-7000 infra red gas analyser for the determination of CO2/H2O exchange by plants. The system comprises six cuvettes for the simulataneous analysis of five plants.
Sample preparation
- various mills, ranging from small volume bead mill (Retsch MM 200) to disk mill (Retsch RS 100 ) for grinding and homogenisation of plant material;
- high pressure microwave digestion unit (CEM MARS5Xpress ) for acid digestion of samples;
- two furnaces for sample combustion;
- small scale (Christ Alpha 1-4) and large scale (Christ Beta 1-8 K) freeze-dryers;
- superspeed centrifuge (Beckmann Avanti J-25) with various rotors.