Facilities
List of equipment available:
Biosafety cabinets for microbial, plant and animal culture, Thermal cycler (PCR machine), Cooling water-bath, Heating and cooling dry-baths, Hybridisation oven, Rocker, UV-Visible Spectrophotometers for transmittance and reflectance measurement, High-speed cold centrifuge, Gel documentation system, HPTLC applicator, Gas chromatograph, CO2 incubator, Lyophiliser, Ultrasonicator, Electroporator, BOD incubator, Horizontal and vertical gel electrophoresis equipment, 2-D gel electrophoresis equipment, Western blotting apparatus, FT-IR spectrometer, Animal cell culture area, Inverted microscope, Upright binocular microscope with phase-contrast, fluorescence and polarised field accessories, and routine biological research laboratory equipment.
Thermal Cycler (PCR machine)
Mastercycler Nexus Gradient (Eppendorf, Germany)This is an instrument that can change the temperature of small tubes in a programmed manner. It is used for amplification of pieces of DNA for analytical as well as preparative purposes. As the name suggests, it offers the option of using a thermal gradient in one of the steps of the program.
Hybridisation Oven
Oribtek (Scigenics Biotech, India)The equipment is used for carrying out nucleic acid hybridizations, or any other experiment that requires high temperature interaction of liquids with any sheets or membranes. The oven has rotisserie movement and relevant tubes to perform the experiments.
UV-Visible Spectrophotometers for Transmittance and Reflectance Measurement
UV-1700 Pharmaspec, and UV-2700 (both by Shimadzu, Japan)The spectrophotometers are used to quantify compounds in solutions that can absorb light in the wavelength range 190-1100 nm. They can also be used for generating spectrum scans and doing kinetic measurements to record progress of reactions. UV-2700 also has an attachment to measure reflectance of opaques samples, and transmittance or absorbance of films in a similar wavelength range.
Gel Documentation System
AlphaDigiDoc (Alpha Innotech, USA)Use for documentation of TLCs, protein gels and DNA/RNA gels, the system is fitted with trans-illumination lights, both UV and white. It also has epi-illumination provided by white lights as wells as 254 and 365 nm UV lights. The image-processing software is capable of providing image output in either visual or a semi-quantitative modes.
HPTLC Applicator
Linomat IV (Camag, Switzerland)The applicator is used to spread precise amounts of samples on TLC plates for carrying out quantitative analyses of compounds. The programmable device applies the samples using nitrogen gas and a specific syringe-needle configuration to achieve high precision.
Gas Chromatograph
GC 8610 HR (Chemito, India)The gas chromatograph is used for separating volatile compounds. The routine analytical work is carried out on a capillary column. Additional preparative columns are available for separation of larger quantities. The instrument is fitted with ECD, FID and TCD for detection of different classes of compounds.
Lyophiliser
Heto Drywinner (ThermoFisher Scientific, USA)The lyophiliser is used to dry aqueous samples in a frozen state to preserve the activity of labile biological molecules. It can also be used to preserve microbial cultures. The instrument has a manifold for attaching small tubes, and flasks with glass joints.
Ultrasonicator
Sonifier 450 (Branson, USA)This instrument is used to break down cells, polymers and other materials using ultrasound waves operating at the frequency 30 kHz. It has large and small probes for use with different volumes of liquids. Routinely used for making cell homogenates, nanoparticles, etc.
FT-IR spectrometer
Alpha (Bruker, USA)The FT-IR spectrometer is capable of routine analyses of samples. It has accessories for attenuated total reflectance (ATR) with ZnSe window, as well as for diffuse reflectance. It scans samples in the wavenumber range 4000-600. When used in conjunction with commercially available libraries of chemicals, it can identify pure compounds in a short time. Its can also be used to monitor the progress of certain types of organic reactions.
Upright Trinocular Microscope with Camera
CX41 with MagCam (Olympus, Japan)This upright microscope is equipped with accessories that enable observation under phase-contrast, fluorescence and polarised field conditions. Has a high-resolution camera for capture of fine image details.
Cooling Micro-centrifuge
Cooling microcentrifuge 5418 R (Eppendorf, Germany), having 18 slots can go up to 14000 rpm
Cooling Centrifuge
Cooling centrifuge, 5810 R (Eppendorf, Germany) having six slots, both fixed angle and swing out rotors, with 15 ml and 50 ml capacity tubes. A maximum speed of 12,000 rpm can be attained.