Facilities
Macromolecular Crystallography Facility
State-of-the-art macromolecular X-ray crystallography facility, including two RAXIS IV + detectors and two X-Stream cryosystems. Researchers at IU are members of the Molecular Biology Consortium, which has a synchrotron beamline at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley. All IU macromolecular crystallographers and their students have access to the new beamline for collection of high-resolution crystallographic data.
Contacts: Charles Dann III (cedann@indiana.edu), Joel Ybe (jybe@indiana.edu)
Location: SI 401, SI 401A
Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) Facility
A recently purchased state-of-the-art JEOL JEM 3200FS transmission electron microscope (TEM) is shared between the departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Biology. This instrument is designed for low dose, low temperature imaging and tomography of biological materials. The electron microscope is also equipped with an energy filter for zero-energy-loss imaging (for biological samples), elemental imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), a high angle annular dark field scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM) detector for Z-contrast imaging and an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometer. Though these add-ons are mainly used for materials science applications, recent work has begun to explore the use of such materials science instrumentation with biological materials and the electron microscope here at IU is ideally suited for such explorations. The facility is also equipped with an FEI Vitrobot for robotic vitrification of isolated macromolecular assemblies. The manager of the TEM will assist with initial feasibility studies and project design, data processing and analysis and training users of the instrument.
Web-site:http://www.bio.indiana.edu/~cryo/
Contact: David Morgan (dagmorga@indiana.edu)
Location: SI 032
DNA Facility
The DNA facility provides DNA sequencing and genetic fragment analysis on Applied Biosystems 3730 automated sequencing systems, as well as instrumentation and expertise for polymerase chain reaction, electroporation, phosphor imaging and densitometry.
Web-site:http://imbi.bio.indiana.edu/index.php?page_id=DNA%20Facilities&features=1#top
Contact: Lawrence Washington (lwwashin@indiana.edu)
Nanoscale Characterization Facility (NCF)
The Nanoscale Characterization Facility (NCF) is housed on the ground floor in Simon Hall, our multidisciplinary sciences building, and has 2000 square ft of laboratory space and 1300 square ft of clean room space. The NCF will provide faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students with state-of-the-art instrumentation for generating and characterizing materials having features with nanometer dimensions. We expect the NCF to grow over the next three to five years as a university resource, and the instrumentation within the facility will be available to all research groups at IU.
For fabrication, we have a UV exposure/alignment system (Optical Associates, Inc. 205S), stylus-based surface profiler (Veeco Dektak 6M), thin film deposition system (BOC Edwards Auto 306), spin coaters, high temperature furnace, and etch baths. In addition, we have a nanopattern generation system (Nabity NPGS) for electron beam (e-beam) lithography over small areas, coupled to our scanning electron microscope (Zeiss SMT 1430). Instruments for characterization include an environmental scanning electron microscope (FEI Quanta 600 FEG), a cryogenic transmission electron microscope (cryo-TEM, JEOL JEM-2200FS), and an atomic force microscope (Asylum Research MFP3D) coupled to a confocal fluorescence microscope (Nikon TE2000-U).
Contact: Stephen Jacobson (jacobson@indiana.edu)
Location: SI 034
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory
The Indiana MetaCyt Initiative , as part of the MetaCyt Biochemical Analysis Center has underwritten the acquisition of an 800 MHz Varian Inova NMR spectrometer with a cryogenic probe system. This instrument will be placed along side an existing 600 MHz Varian Inova NMR spectrometer with a cryogenic probe. These two instruments will be located on the ground floor of Simon Hall and will comprise the MetaCyt Biomolecular NMR Laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility for biomolecular structure and dynamics determination.
The Chemistry Department Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility consists of seven Varian spectrometers in three laboratories with an experienced staff of professional Ph.D. scientists. The undergraduate teaching laboratory contains a full featured 200 MHz instrument. The Chemistry Department NMR lab features four Varian spectrometers from 300MHz to 500MHz for work on liquid samples. The 400 MHz spectrometers feature 4-nucleus probes and gradients for multidimensional and multinuclear NMR experiments. The 500 MHz instrument is a full featured 3 channel instrument with a variety of probes and 3 axis gradients. It is used to perform almost any modern NMR experiment from demanding BioNMR experiments to diffusion studies and microimaging.
http://www.indiana.edu/~dpglab/?p=metacyt
Contact: David Giedroc (giedroc@indiana.edu)
Location: SI 037
Physical Biochemistry Instrumentation Facility (PBIF)
The Physical Biochemistry Instrumentation Facility supports research in structures, stabilities, and interactions of biomolecules. Thorough hands-on training, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and analysis software are available 24 hours a day, and equipment time may be booked a round the clock via a web-based reservation system. The PBIF is directed by a Ph.D. scientist who assists researchers in the design, implementation, and analysis of experiments and results.
The PBIF features optical instruments for the study of structure, folding, binding thermodynamics and kinetics, and quantitation experiments: a Perkin Elmer LS50B Luminescence Spectrometer; a Jasco J-715 Circular Dichroism Spectrometer with Peltier sample temperature control; an Amersham Biosciences Typhoon 9210 Variable Mode Imager equipped with the versatile ImageQuant TL analysis package; and a Varian Cary 100 Bio UV / Visible Spectrometer for oligonucleotide melting studies. Other available instrumentation includes: a Microcal Isothermal Titration Calorimeter (VP- ITC); a Beckman Coulter Optima XL-I Analytical Ultracentrifuge with both absorbance and interference capabilities for probing size and associative properties; a Packard 1600TR Scintillation Counter for quantitation of assays and substrates; and a BIA CORE 3000 Surface Plasmon Resonance instrument that is capable of detailed, direct binding measurements and kinetic analysis of nucleotides and proteins. A recently purchased Malvern Zetasizer Nano-S dynamic light scattering instrument for quick molecular size characterizations has also been added to the PBIF capabilities.
http://www.indiana.edu/~physbio/
Contact: Todd Stone (tstone@indiana.edu)
Location: SI 033
