Koshland Hall is home to the Departments of Plant
and Microbial Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology.
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Koshland Hall Koshland Hall is home to the Departments of Plant and Microbial Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology. |
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Mushroom Dryers First we go out into the field and collect specimens. Then we bring them back into the lab, measure their pileus diameter, stipe length, culture a piece of the tissue, freeze dry some, and dry the rest on the drier. Once dry, the specimen's dry weight can be measured. |
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PCR machines PCR is based on the enzymatic amplification of a DNA fragment that is flanked by two oligonucleotide primers that hybridize to opposite strands of the target sequence. Repeated cycles of heat denaturation of the template, annealing of the primers to their complementary sequences and the subsequent extension of the annealed primers with a DNA polymerase result in the amplification of the desired DNA fragment. |
Eppendorf Mastercycler gradient | MJ PTC100 |
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various Microfuges |
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Speedvac The Speedvac allows for rapid evaporation and solidification of biological solutions in microtubes by centrifugal force in vacuum. The combined action concentrates the biochemical solute in a minimum volume and in minimum time. The sample material does not settle on the sides of the tube so that the smallest amount of diluent is required to recover the sample. The most common use for the Speedvac in the Bruns Lab is to dry down primers and in the preparation of DNA for sequencing on the ABI Automated Sequencer. |
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Robbins Scientific Hybridization Oven This Hybridization Oven replaces water baths, plastic bags, heat sealers and needles with screw-capped glass tubes rotating inside a controlled temperature chamber. Hybridization and subsequent washes may be performed safely under controlled conditions in the same glass tube. Reproducible Southern, Northern and Western blots can be obtained with high sensitivity using minimal probe solution volumes. We use this instrument primarily for southern blots. |
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EagleEye by Stratagene The EagleEye is a fully integrated still video imaging system for gel documentation. Housed within the EagleEye is a UV light source (a transilluminator). As DNA bound with Ethidium Bromide will fluoresce when illuminated with UV light, a typical agarose gel is stained with EtBr for 10 minutes, destained in water for 15, and then placed on the transilluminator for viewing of DNA bands. The EagleEye's video camera is connected to a Macintosh II CI and an image printer. Images can be scanned directly into the computer or printed out via the high-resolution thermal printer. Click on the EagleEye to view a typical minigel. |
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Applied Biosystems 3100 Automated Sequencer The 3100 (acquired in November of 2001) is the now the preferred instrument for sequencing DNA in the Bruns Lab. The 3100 employs 16 capillaries, thus enabling one to sequence an entire 96 well plate in just under 15 hours. The 3100 is not inexpensive to operate, however, and enjoys its share of downtime, as documented in our 3100 hall of shame log. |
the beginning