Core Research Facilities
Biacore T100-Biacore T100 is a system for comprehensive protein interaction analysis from early research, to drug discovery and development and on to QC. The system is supported by state of the art software for assay development, analysis, data evaluation and interpretation. Software wizards ensure ease of use. Alternatively, methods may be developed or customized as required. In addition to providing detailed information on kinetics and affinity, software support allows interactions to be thermodynamically characterized.
Center Facilities and Equipment Summaries
The Center for Applied NanoBioscience
The Center for Applied NanoBioscience at the Biodesign Institute occupies 4,000 square feet of space, including two molecular biology and chemistry labs, a plastic microfabrication lab, a test and measurement lab, two laser spectroscopy labs and a class 10,000 nanofab facility. ANB partners have donated more than $1 million in equipment comprising major pieces of equipment for semiconductor processing (e.g. JenOptik Hex03 Hot Embosser), analytical instrumentation (e.g. Bruker NMR 400 MHz) and bio-analytical characterization (e.g. ABI 310 Capillary System). Additonal equipment includes a Nanonex NX1000 Nano-Imprint Tool, Universal M40 CO2 Laser System, Intellik Prolight 2500 CNC, a Telechem "Spotbot" DNA Arrayer, Agilent Bioanalyzer, anodic bonder, and Ar-Kr Ion Laser. The Center also has full access to the facilities in the 30,000 sq. ft. Center for Solid State Electronic Research and 180,000 sq. ft. of fabrication and manufacturing capability at the Flexible Display Center at ASU.
The Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors
The Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors is well equipped with modern instrumentation and microfabrication tools including ten modern electrochemical (voltammetric and impedance) analyzers, 4 lab-on-chip systems, a liquid chromatograph, quartz crystal microbalance, numerous rotating disk electrodes, AFM and SECM scanning-probe systems, a SPR unit, three flow injection systems. Also located are a high-precision screen printer (MPM), spin coater, plasma cleaner, two Nikon optical microscopes (for microfabrication efforts), sputtering unit, clean air workstations, Si wafer etching equipment, and graphic station for advanced microfabrication. The microfabrication and soft-lit h ographic capabilities are aimed at thin and thick film biosensors, micro total analysis systems (µ-TAS), polymeric and glass microseparation devices and screen-printed electrodes.
The Center for BioOptical Nanotechnology
The Center for BioOptical Nanotechnology has recently consolidated most of the ASU’s Ultrafast Laser and Microscopy facility in the Biodesign Institute where it is used by researchers campus-wide. As a leader in the study of photosynthesis and photobiology, ASU has already amassed considerable resources in the Center for Photosynthesis and the Center for Solid State Electronics Research, both of which provide important support to the Center for BioOptical Nanotechnology . This is one of the foremost facilities for the application of ultrafast laser technology to biology anywhere in the world. The femtosecond spectroscopy part of the facility consists of several solid-state-laser pumped femtosecond mode-locked Ti:Sapphire lasers coupled with transient absorption and fluorescence spectrometers, providing users with a broad range of excitation and probe wavelength for kinetic measurements with femtosecond to picosecond time resolutions. The single molecule microscopy part of the facility consists of both pulsed and CW excitation lasers, a confocal microscope base, high numerical aperture objective lens, and a sensitive detection system, which operates in single photon counting mode. The optics are designed such that the observation volume is extremely small, a few femtoliters or less. Detection of single molecules is achieved by either diffusion mode or surface mode. Standard equipment includes SpectraPro monochrometers/fluorometers, Varian spectrophotometers, Millenia, Evolution and Tsunami Ti:Sapphire lasers, a DPDA detector, and for standard molecular work, a thermocycler, peptide synthesizer, Photodyne transilluminator, numerous centrifuges, and electroporators.
The Center for Environmental Biotechnology
The Center for Environmental Biotechnology occupies approximately 6,500 square feet of laboratory space. The center houses a number of specialized equipment including an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, automated DNA sequencer, anaerobic chamber, bioreactor systems, DGGE units, DNA microarray spotter and scanner epifluorescence microscope with CCD camera, Field-gel Electrophoresis Unit, Fluorescence Spectrophotometer FPLC (protein purification), GC-MS, Gas Chromatograph (GC), High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), PCR Thermocyclers PCR Robot, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Analyzer, Residual Gas Analyzers (RGA), and microautoradiography imager.
The Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics
The Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics houses a state-of-the-art laboratory and a cutting-edge scientific computing facility to accommodate the large-scale, computationally intensive research associated with evolutionary functional genomics. At the heart of the facility is a server-computing core including 64-bit Apple G5 and Intel Xeon systems. The total system provides more than 300 Gigaflops of computing power and more than 5 Terabytes of data storage.
The Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology
The Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology occupies approximately 21,000 square feet of laboratory space, which includes four Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) microbiology modules for pathogen studies. Specialized tissue culture facilities (for microbiology and plant biotechnology), five walk-in high light intensity plant growth chambers, a specialized freeze drying facility, individual lab modules (for PCR, use of radioisotopes, microscopy, HPLC/FPLC, microbiological processes, culture media preparation with two autoclaves) and two cold rooms are also included in the laboratory space. Additionally, the plant biotechnology component of the IDV constructed a BSL-2 level biocontainment greenhouse complex (3,600 square feet under glass, a soil handling and plant processing lab, office and conference room) at the ASU East campus anticipated to be completed in January 2006.
The Center for Innovations in Medicine
The Center for Innovations in Medicine
The Center for Single Molecule Biophysics
The Center for Single Molecule Biophysics research laboratory has 3 environmental scanning probe microscopes for bio-imaging, each housed in separate microscope labs; 4,000 sq. ft. of chemistry prep labs with 3 chemical hoods, 2 laminar flow hoods, and vacuum and sputter coating facilities for specialty tips. Facilities for antibody chemistry and immunology are located in the School of Life Sciences. The center recently won a grant from the National Science Foundation for the purchase of a Focused Ion Beam System (valued at $1.3 million). The center will use this equipment to design probes for mapping electrical and chemical activity on the surface of cells. Modification of a dual AFM/optical microscope for in-situ cross-linking will be carried out at Molecular Imaging located in a 10,000 sq. ft. facility approx. 3 miles south of campus.
