Equipment
Cryobiotechnology, Clinical Stem Cell Technologies and Automation Processes
Cell biology laboratory, equipped with:
- flow and laminar hoods
- CO2 incubators
- 10 BioLevitators (semi-automated suspension cell culture bioreactor)
- bioreactor systems for the expansion of cells (Spinner Flasks, Hexabatch)
- 10 BioStations IM and 1 Biostation CT for low-content time-lapse imaging
- FACSAria II flow cytometer and cell sorter
- separate quarantine cell culture laboratory for primary cells
Molecular biology laboratory, equipped with:
- QuantStudio 7 qPCR instrument for quantitative gene expression studies
- Thermalcycler (AB 2720)
- Bioanalyzer and Nanodrop for precise measurement of nucleic acids and protein concentration
- electrophoresis systems for agarose gels and SDS-PAGE
- equipment for recombinant DNA techniques
Biochemistry laboratory, equipped with:
- hybridization oven for in situ detection of RNA
- BioRad Chemidoc for quantification of nucleic acid/protein expression
- Thermalcycler (AB SimpliAmp)
- spectrophotometer
- microcapsule/microcarrier producing system (co-axial air flow and Crystal Gun principle)
- contact printer (GeSiM GmbH) a moulding system for the production of thin, biocompatible alginate films or for printing of protein patterns
- 3D scaffolder (GeSiM GmbH) for the production of three dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering
- freeze dryer
Microscopy room, equipped with:
- inverted cryomicroscope (own development, Peltier-based)
- combined reflection/scanning force microscope for measurement of biological objects in aqueous environments
- confocal inverted microscope
- fluorescence microscopes, CLSM, LSM, incubation microscopes
- high-speed camera for the visualization of ultra-fast processes like crystallization during cryopreservation or the validation of cross-linking processes
Automation laboratory, equipped with:
- cell culture robots for the automated cultivation of cells:
- Nanoplotter 2.1 (GeSiM GmbH)
- TECAN Freedom 200 (TECAN)
- TAP arm (TAP BIOSYSTEMS) - micropipette system / automation platform
Cryopreservation laboratory, equipped with:
- cryogenic storage systems (down to –196 °C) with liquid nitrogen storage tank
- automated cryobanking system, currently with the capacity of 60,000 samples (hermetic storage, ASKION)
- Cryo-Workbench (ASKION) for the handling of frozen samples below -100°C
- vitrification facility with novel substrates for sterile vitrification processes
- computer-controlled freezers (Sylab, Asymptote)
- cryomicroscope including high-speed camera
- "Freezing Spin Coater" for the freezing of ultrathin layers (own development)
- modified programmable automatic freezer for applications in biology, materials science and electronics
- high-speed camera system for analysis of fast biological and biophysical processes (e.g. microdrop-based freezing)
- thermography system (temperature measurement range –20 °C to +250 °C)
- thawing device for plasma bags
- cryogentic osmometer (Gonotec)
Biomedical Optics
- ultra-short pulsed Ti:sapphire laser, various additional pulsed and cw laser sources
- multiphoton laser scanning microscope with spectral imaging module (Zeiss LSM510-Meta-NLO)
- epifluorescence microscope with CCD unit
- versatile platform for development and evaluation of laser scanning imaging technology (established as standard: confocal fluorescence and Raman microscopy at 375, 532 and 785 nm excitation, multiphoton microscopy at 710-990 nm excitation, detection by 1024-channel spectrograph, option for subsequent correlation of measured values)
- ultra-short pulse technology: pulse picker, frequency doubler, beam analysis systems
- low-temperature microscopy equipment
- equipment for time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) for fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and spectral FLIM
- measurement electronics (pulse generators, oscilloscope, lock-in amplifier, etc.)
- fluorescence spectrometer (200-900 nm), UV/Vis/NIR absorption spectrometer (200-3300 nm)
- Peltier-cooled CCD spectrometer (Andor Idus)
- hardware correlator ALV-5000
- piezotables for various control ranges
- spin coater
- differential scanning calorimeter Perkin Elmer DSC 8500 (-180 °C to +750 °C)
- Lab View development environment
- Zemax: optical design software
- clean room for the extraction of high-purity alginates
- measurement station for the deformation curves of highly viscous alginate