Department Facilities:
Ancient DNA & Forensic Lab
State of the art facility for extracting and amplifying ancient DNA. Facility is serially positive pressured with magnetic interlocks on the doors to prevent room to room airflow. All rooms are HEPA filtered with UV-lights to destroy DNA prior to extractions.
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Confocal Microscope
The Zeiss LSM 510 META Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope is set upon an Axiovert 200 inverted microscope. The system has four lasers (405 nm Violet laser diode, an Argon laser, a Helium-Neon 543 nm laser and a Helium-Neon 633 nm laser) with two conventional detectors, a transmitted light detector, and the META detector capable of detecting eight separate emission wavelengths.
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Electron Microscopy Facility
The Department's EM facility serves the entire university community. It contains a Hitachi H-7000 transmission electron microscope, a Hitachi H-570 scanning electron microscope with LaB6 gun and Quartz PCI digital image system, and support equipment for the preparation of specimens. A facility manager provides training and assistance.
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This 12,500 sq. ft. facility is designed to function as a living laboratory for the department's plant and ecology related courses. More than 6,000 exotic plants, representing over 1,200 distinct species, are maintained within its four simulated climates. This arrangement facilitates understanding of diverse plant species and their ecologies. All plants are labeled with information regarding their taxonomies, geographic origins, and common names.
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Flow Cytometer
FACS Calibur Flow Cytometer. This BD Biosciences instrument is for use in teaching and research. This cytometer has two excitation lasers (488 nm and 633 nm) and four fluorescent color emission detectors and uses a Macintosh computer for analysis. The cytometer also has cell sorting capability and has the FACSLoader for automatic analysis of up to forty samples.
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Histology Core Facility
The Histology Core facility is furnished with modern equipment for the processing of biological specimens. This includes an automatic tissue processor (Leica TP 1020), an embedding center (Leica EG 1140H/1140C) and a cryostat (Leica CM1850).
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Laboratory Animal Resources
Under the direction of a full time
veterinarian, the LAR facility provides for the care and well-being of
animals used for research, training and education at BU. It operates in compliance with all standards mandated by
federal and state law, accrediting bodies and the Institutional Animal
Care & Use Committee. The staff of 10 include an occupational
health and safety physician. Construction of a new LAR building,
depicted at the left, is scheduled to begin in 2008.
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Mass Spectrometer Facility
The mass spectrometer facility has an Applied Biosystems QStar XL mass spectrometer and a GE Healthcare Ettan Maldi-MS mass spectrometer. The QStar, with associated HPLC, ion spray, APCI and nanospray units, and software for information dependent data acquisition, peptide and metabolite identification software allow for characterization of peptides and small molecules for proteomics and metabolomics work. The Ettan Maldi-MS is a walk-up MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer for accurate mass determination applied to proteins, peptides and other polymers.
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Molecular Anthropology Lab
Used for molecular evolutionary and population genetics studies of human, plant and animal species. Features 2clean rooms for PCR setup, pre-PCR Extraction labPost-PCR sequencing lab with an ABI 377XL Automated sequencer and a Varian dHPLC system, and a 4deg C cold-room lab for storage and 4C experiments.
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Molecular Core Facility
This facility consists of a suite of instrumentation. Equipment includes: an automatic DNA sequencer, several thermocyclers, super-speed and ultra-centrifuges, a lyophilizer, a Speed-Vac drier, UV/Vis spectrophotometers, a spectrofluorometer, a binary gradient HPLC, a digital imaging system, and autoclaves. Connected to the core is a darkroom complex for normal photographic developing and printing and for autoradiography.
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Paleobotany Lab
The Department has superb facilities for the preparation of fossil specimens, a computer-based image analysis equipment for morphometric studies, as well as an electron microscope and histology complex with staff to assist faculty and graduate students.
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The Research Greenhouse
 Completed in 1996, this 4,250 sq. ft facility represents state-of-the-art greenhouse environmental management. Seven separate growing areas allow for plant-related research in environments where temperature, humidity level, and light intensity are computer controlled. Staff maintain the computer-controlled facility and are available to assist faculty and graduate students.
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