Methods and equipment

OUR LABORATORY IS EQUIPPED WITH ALL THE MODERN INSTRUMENTS FOR WIDE RANGE OF RESEARCH – FROM GENE EXPRESSION TO ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR

Methods for studying the animal behaviour

  • Open field test

    Device for the study of motor and cognitive functions in the test “open field” (TSE Systems)

  • Morris water maze

    Device for the study of motor and cognitive functions in the test “Morris water maze” (TSE Systems)

  • Rotarod

    Rotarod motor test device (TSE Systems)

  • Operational server

    Server for behavioral management and data processing (TSE Systems)

Animal surgery and anesthesia

  • Stereotactic device

    Stereotactic device for rodent brain surgery (Narishige)

  • Microdialysis pump

    High-precision CMA 4004 pump for in vivo microdialysis

  • Anesthesia

    SomnoSuite isoflurane inhalational amesthesia machine for small animals (Kent Scientific)

Devices for brain sectioning and processing

  • Cryotome

    CM1950 cryotome (Leica) for preparing frosen sections

  • Stereomicroscope

    Stereomicroscope for research and teaching (Leica)

  • Flow-incubation system

    Devices for thermostated perfusion of brain slices (water bath (Barnstead AquaBath) and ISMATEC 8-channel peristaltic pump)

  • Vibratome with stereomicroscope

    VT 1200S vibratome equipped with S9E stereomicroscope (Leica)

  • Vibratome

    Device for preparing brain tissue slices (Vibratome 1000 Plus)

Biochemical and molecular biology methods

High perfomance liquid chromatographs (HPLC)

  • Prominence LC20 (Shimadzu) HPLC with electrochemical detection

  • Prominence LC20 (Shimadzu) HPLC with electrochemical and fluorescent detection and autosampler

  • Prominence LC20 (Shimadzu) HPLC with electrochemical detection and autosampler

Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

  • RT-PCR

    QuantStudio 12K Flex RT-PCR (Applied Biosystems) system suitable for 96-well plates and microarray chips

  • Microarray automatic manipulator

    AccuFill (Applied Biosystems) robotic complex for 12K Flex unit, used for transferring samples from 384-well plates to microarray chips

  • Digital PCR

    QuantStudio 3D (Applied Biosystems) digital microarray PCR system for identifying small amounts of nucleic acids and searching for rare mutations

  • Thermocycler

    iCycler (Bio-Rad) thermocycler/detector for routine nucleic acid melting and amplification

Immunochemical methods

  • Electroforesis cell

    PROTEAN (Bio-Rad) vertical PAGE-electroforesis system and transfer packages for western blotting

  • PCR/Blot visualization

    ChemiDoc Touch (Bio-Rad) visualisation system for PAGE- or PCR agarose gels and WB membranes

  • Immunoenzymatic assay

    iMark (Bio-Rad) device for ensyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis in 96-well plates

  • Multiplex-analysis

    MAGPIX (Millipore) multiplex immunofluorescence analysator with capacity to identify up to 50 analytes in a single sample

Sample processing and supplementary equipment

  • Balances

    Scales and analytical balances (Ohaus, Mettler Toledo)

  • Homogeniser

    FastPrep (MP Biosystems) homogeniser for biological tissues

  • Centrifuges

    Centrifuge park fully consisting of Eppendorf centrifuges

  • Dosators

    Mechanical, automatic and multichannel Eppendorf pipettes

Microscopy and cell culture facility

  • Microscope

    Zeiss fluorescent microscope with 4 lasers and digital camera

  • Microscope

    Olympus fluorescent microscope with digital camera

  • Cell facility

    Sterile box for working with cell cultures

  • Microscope in cell culture facility

    Olympus fluorescent microscope with digital camera