Neuromuscular Research unit facilities

The neuromuscular Research Unit has a number of specialized labs, some of which are GMO-class 1 certified:

The DNA & protein lab, consisting of a Syngene GBox for visualizing gels and blots, a Biorad CFX96 real-time PCR as well as three Biorad MJ Mini PCR machines for routine PCR work, a DNA/RNA workbench, a Nanodrop and Biorad Experion for DNA/RNA quality control and a BioPlex 200 multiplex array reader.

Cell culture room, with a laminar flow bench, two CO2-incubators and a Nikon inverted fluorescence microscope.

Histology lab, with a flow bench, a Promega GloMax+ multimode plate reader for spectrophotometry, fluorometry and luminometry, a refridgerated centrifuge with multiple rotor heads and western blotting equipment for running large gels for diagnostic purposes and a high throughput setup for medium and mini size gels. In addition, this lab is used for whole body, in situ and ex vivo physiological muscle testing using in-house built to test for isometric and eccentric contractions.

Microscopy lab, consisting of a fully motorized Nikon Ti-E inverted fluorescence microscope for confocal imaging, live-cell imaging using an on-stage incubator and single cell physiology experiments using a WPI CTS-200 cell tester. In addition, the lab has two upright Nikon fluorescence microscopes, one fully motorized, the other manual with a teaching head as well as a Nikon conference microscope with multiple teaching heads for bright-field microscopy, and finally an Olympus MMI Smartcut laser microdissection microscope for single cell dissection. The larger microscopes are fitted with Andor Neo cameras.

The Human physiology lab, is used for all human resting and exercise-related tests. A variety of exercise tests including diagnostic cycle tests and handgrip tests are performed. Tests of maximal oxygen uptake and metabolism assessed by stabile isotope technique are commonly employed, using a Lode cycle ergometer and Cosmed gas exchange analyzer.