Instrumentation

Cell Culture

Automated cell counter used for fluorescence-based cell quantification and analysis — The Tali image-based cytometer is used to perform automated cell counts and quantitative red/green fluorescence measurements.

Our laboratories house:

Four HERAcell 150i incubators and three Thermo Napco 8000 WJ incubators:
- All incubators have humidified atmospheric control, 5% CO2, flexible temperature settings and optional adaptation to a Pfeiffer Cellspin stirring platform for spinner flask cell culture.
- One Thermo Napco 8000 WJ incubator is connected to a nitrogen gas source for short-term hypoxic exposure.
Two laminar flow hoods (a.k.a. biosafety cabinets): a Thermo Scientific 1300 Series Class II and a Baker Company SterilGARD VBM-600
A light microscope for standard bright-field visualization and equipped with a Nikon digital camera and NIS-Elements image capture and optimization software
An EVOS FLoid cell imaging station for bright-field and red/green/blue fluorescence visualization and image capture

Options for cell counting: a hemocytometer slide for manual counting; a Tali image-based cell counter and a Millipore Scepter handheld cell counter for automated counting. Single-use materials for Tali counting and for Scepter counting.

Transfection

Electroporation system used to introduce nucleic acids into cultured cells — The Neon electroporation transfection system is used to introduce new nucleic acid sequences into eukaryotic cells.

Our Neon® electroporation system is designed for eukaryotic cell transfections. Single-use materials for Neon transfection.

Western Blotting for Protein Analysis

Protein detection membrane used in antibody-based western blot analysis — Western blotting, also known as immunoblotting, uses highly specific antibodies to detect proteins of interest in biological samples.

Researchers loading samples into gel electrophoresis apparatus — Paige Bothwell observes while Doaa Alshammari carefully loads each lane of a vertical gel before electrophoresis.

Samples can be homogenized with our Fisher Scientific cup horn sonication system and quantified with our Thermo Scientific NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer. Western blot analysis is performed using a Bio-Rad Mini-PROTEAN Tetra vertical electrophoresis and Western blotting system, and single-use precast gels compatible with the Mini-PROTEAN system.

PCR and RT-qPCR for RNA and DNA Analysis

Real-time PCR instrument used for quantitative gene expression analysis — The Eppendorf Mastercycler Realplex is used to perform real time, quantitative analysis of gene expression in biological samples.

Gel imaging system used for visualization of PCR products — The Invitrogen Life Technologies E-Gel imager and accompanying software allows for visualization of PCR products and image editing.

Thermal cycler used for DNA amplification reactions — The Applied Biosystems SimpliAmp thermocycler is used for standard PCR reactions.

Software interface displaying real-time DNA amplification curves — Jason Misurelli uses the Mastercycler Ep Realplex software to visualize gene amplification in real time.

RNA sample preparation and analysis: clean sample preparation can be performed in our Fisher Scientific PCR workstation, and standard PCR reactions can be run on our Applied Biosystems SimpliAmp thermocycler and then visualized on our Invitrogen Life Technologies E-Gel Imager with GelQuant Express analysis software and GelCapture acquisition software. For RT-qPCR applications, we have an Eppendorf Mastercycler Realplex and single-use 96-well plates compatible with this Eppendorf RT-qPCR instrument.

Spectrophotometry

Microplate spectrophotometer used for absorbance-based measurements — The Epoch UV-Vis microplate spectrophotometer enables a broad range of applications that require absorbance-based measurements and reliable replication.

Multi-mode plate reader capable of fluorescence and UV-Vis detection — The BioTek Cytation 5 microplate spectrophotometer is an advanced instrument with the capacity to measure fluorescence intensity in addition to UV-Vis spectra.

Luminometer used for detecting luminescent assay signals — The Centro XS³ LB 960 luminometer is used for glow and flash luminescence assays.

Epoch UV-Vis microplate spectrophotometer specifications
Cytation 5 specifications (no imaging module)
Centro XS³ LB 960 luminometer

Microbiology

To facilitate bacterial cell culture our microbiology laboratory is equipped with a Baker Company SterilGARD VBM-600 laminar flow hood (biosafety cabinet), a large floor model incubator shaker, bench-top incubators, spectrophotometer, centrifuges, water bath, UV crosslinker, and refrigerated and frozen storage systems.

Additional Equipment

Room 119

Chemical fume hood
Large and small bench-top centrifuges
Mettler Toledo S20 SevenEasy pH meter
Fisher Scientific Isotemp block heater
Dry metal bead bath
Microplate shaker
Vortex mixers
Gram and milligram scales
Barnstead Nanopure ultrapure water system
Differential storage (4°C, -20°C, -80°C, -190°C liquid nitrogen)

Room 113

Chemical fume hood
Thermo Scientific Savant SpeedVac vacuum concentrator
Wescor Vapro vapor pressure osmometer
Gram and milligram scales
Barnstead Nanopure ultrapure water system
Differential storage (37°C, 4°C, -20°C)

Facility Details

Director

Barrie Bode, Ph.D.
Core Lab Director
Professor, Biological Sciences
bodebp@niu.edu

Location

BIOS Research Instrumentation Core (BRIC) and Core Microscopy Facility (CMF)
Montgomery Hall
Rooms 112, 113, 115, 116 and 119

Research

Contact Us

Department of Biological Sciences
Montgomery Hall 349
815-753-1753
815-753-0461 (fax)

General questions can be directed to kmeyer5@niu.edu.

Student enrollment questions can be directed to sfarley@niu.edu.

Graduate Advising

Undergraduate Advising