Research Facilities

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) uses a focused beam of high-energy electrons to generate a variety of signals at the surface of specimens. SEMs reveal information about the sample including external morphology (texture), chemical composition, and crystalline structure and orientation of materials making up the sample. Surface structures are observed by secondary electrons, distribution of materials in a specimen is observed by backscattered electrons, and elements are analysed by EDS.

Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
A Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) utilises energetic electrons to provide morphologic, compositional and crystallographic information on samples. At a maximum potential magnification of 1 nanometer, TEMs are the most powerful microscopes. TEMs produce high-resolution, two-dimensional images, allowing for a wide range of educational, science and industry applications.

Ultramicrotome
Ultramicrotomy is a method for cutting specimens into extremely thin slices, called ultra-thin sections, that can be studied and documented at different magnifications in a transmission electron microscope (TEM).[1] It is used mostly for biological specimens, but sections of plastics and soft metals can also be prepared. Sections must be very thin because the 50 to 125 kV electrons of the standard electron microscope cannot pass through biological material much thicker than 150 nm. For best resolutions, sections should be from 30 to 60 nm.

Flow Cytometer
Flow cytometry is a technology that simultaneously measures and then analyses multiple physical characteristics of single particles, usually cells, as they flow in a fluid stream through a beam of light. The properties measured include a particle’s relative size, relative granularity or internal complexity, and relative fluorescence intensity. These characteristics are determined using an optical-to-electronic coupling system that records how the cell or particle scatters incident laser light and emits fluorescence.

Fluorescent Microscope
The technique of fluorescence microscopy has become an essential tool in biology and the biomedical sciences, as well as in materials science. The application of an array of fluorochromes has made it possible to identify cells and sub-microscopic cellular components with a high degree of specificity amid non-fluorescing material. Fluorescence microscope is capable of revealing the presence of a single molecule. Through the use of multiple fluorescence labeling, different probes can simultaneously identify several target molecules simultaneously.

Dynamic Light Scattering
Dynamic light scattering (DLS), sometimes referred to as Quasi-Elastic Light Scattering (QELS), is a non-invasive, well-established technique for measuring the size and size distribution of molecules and particles typically in the submicron region, and with the latest technology lower than 1nm.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique which is used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid or gas. FTIR spectroscopy is based on the vibrational excitation of molecular bonds by absorption of infrared light energy (only the middle infrared section). The sum of vibrational spectra for a cell macromolecule (nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, etc.) can produce an infrared absorption spectrum that looks like a molecular “fingerprint” for such biological material.

BOD Incubator
BOD incubators are testing equipment that is widely used in microbiological laboratories to maintain and cultivate the cell cultures and microbiological cultures. The instruments are used to sustain and control the humidity and temperature conditions inside the laboratories. The device is also used to maintain certain factors of the atmosphere as carbon dioxide content, oxygen content. Incubators are essential to perform many types of experiments in molecular biology, microbiology and biology cells to culture the eukaryotic cell and bacterial cells. Panasonic Cooled Incubators incorporate a high precision microprocessor temperature control combined with a heater PID and compressor ON-OFF system.

Sputter Coater
Coating of samples is required in the field of electron microscopy to enable or improve the imaging of samples. Creating a conductive layer of metal on the sample inhibits charging, reduces thermal damage and improves the secondary electron signal required for topographic examination in the SEM. Fine carbon layers, being transparent to the electron beam but conductive, are needed for x-ray microanalysis, to support films on grids and back up replicas to be imaged in the TEM. The coating technique used depends on the resolution and application. Sputter coating in scanning electron microscopy is a sputter deposition process to cover a specimen with a thin layer of conducting material, typically a metal, such as a gold/palladium (Au/Pd) alloy. A conductive coating is needed to prevent charging of a specimen with an electron beam in conventional SEM mode (high vacuum, high voltage). While metal coatings are also useful for increasing signal to noise ratio.

Fluorescence Spectrophotometer
Fluorescence spectrophotometry is a class of techniques that assay the state of a biologicalsystem by studying its interactions with fluorescent probe molecules. This interaction is monitored by measuring the changes in the fluorescent probe optical properties. The Cary Eclipse Spectrophotometer uses a Xenon flash lamp for superior sensitivity, high signal-to-noise, and fast kinetics. It measures the emission of light from samples in four modes. Using Xenon lamp technology, it captures a data point every 12.5 ms and scans at 24,000 nm/min without peak shifts. The Cary Eclipse is the only spectrophotometer with room light immunity.