Facilities and equipment
Applied chemistry and biotechnology
The department houses a number of dedicated labs where students gain experience in the analysis of organics, inorganics, and biomolecules. Students will receive training in lab safety, good lab practices, and lab technique. In addition, the tools or instruments chemists and biochemists use for analysis are a big part of their training. Students receive hands on training pertaining to the operation and use of lab instruments.
Some highlights include the following.
Instrumentation lab
- Two Atomic absorption spectrometers (flame and graphite furnace atomizer) for the analysis of metals
- Gas Chromatograph (dual column with flame ionization and conductivity detector) for the analysis of volatile organics such as components in biodiesel
- High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph with UV/Vis and Fluorescence detectors with data acquisition software for quantitative analysis of chemicals such as Bisphenol A
- UV/Vis scanning Spectrophotometers, IR Spectrophotometers, and Polarimeters for structural analysis of organic compounds
- Ion selective electrodes (Calcium, Fluoride, and Lead) are used in water quality testing
Wet chemistry labs
- Analytical top loading balances and pH meters
- Standard volumetric and general laboratory glassware
- Extensive glassware used for organic and inorganic synthesis
- Solid phase extraction equipment and rotary evaporators are sometimes used to prepare samples for analysis
Biotechnology, immunology, biochemistry lab
- Equipment for the biochemical analyses of cells and metabolites including blood glucose and cholesterol.
- Equipment and facilities for gene cloning and other recombinant DNA technologies
- Biosafety hoods and incubators for bacterial culture and tissue culture
- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) thermocyclers for amplification of cloned genes and human DNA
- ELISA plate reader and other immunological assay equipment for the identification and quantification of antibodies or pathogenic bacteria
- Western blotting apparatus for identification of vaccine components
- Microfuge and high-speed refrigerated centrifuges for cell, DNA, RNA and protein isolation
- Gel-permeation, ion-exchange and affinity column chromatography for protein or DNA purification
- SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) equipment for the identification and characterization of proteins
- Agarose gel electrophoresis equipment for gene analyses
- Imaging analysis equipment and computers for structure/function analyses of DNA, RNA and protein
