In addition to microscopy and element analysis, the General Instrumentation department offers techniques in the field of ultracentrifuges, plate readers and more.
Other research equipment from General Instrumentation
General Instrumentation maintains a basic ultracentrifuge facility for research at the Faculty of Science (FNWI). Under certain conditions, users from outside the FNWI can also make use of this facility. The current facilities consist of:
Recommended for this rotor are polycarbonate bottles (sets with cap and screw cap; volume 10.4 ml, catalogue number 355603, max g-force 362000, k-factor 48, max speed 65000 rpm).
The Tecan Spark M10 plate reader is an advanced instrument used for various applications in life sciences and pharmaceutical research. This multimode microplate reader offers a wide range of detection options, including absorption, fluorescence, luminescence and cell imaging.
The instrument can measure full absorption spectra from 200 to 1000 nm in less than five seconds, which ensures excellent accuracy in the deep UV range.
The Spark M10 is used in various research areas, such as biochemical assays, enzymatic assays and cell-based assays. Thanks to the system's flexibility, users can configure and upgrade the instrument to meet their specific needs, both now and in the future.
MALDI-TOF MS is the acronym for Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption - Ionisation-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry. This technique is used to identify biomolecules, particularly polypeptides/proteins. The ionisation of the biomolecules is necessary for their separation in the mass spectrometer. However, under standard conditions, fragmentation of the molecule is a major problem, e.g. proteins break down into smaller peptide fragments.
MALI consists of pre-coupling the biomolecule to a UV light-absorbing matrix that absorbs most of the energy when irradiated with the nanosecond laser pulse, thus preventing damage such as fragmentation of the biomolecule, but still allowing the conversion of the sample molecules into ionised gas.
Autoclaves are essential instruments in laboratories, hospitals and other medical institutions for sterilising and destroying micro-organisms. These devices use high-pressure steam to sterilise a wide range of materials and instruments, including glassware, metal instruments and certain plastics.
Two autoclaves are available as GI facilities:
- the large MMM, in the Microbiology department. If you have any questions, please contact Katinka van de Pas-Schoonen.
- the smaller Getinge, which is in the Neurophysiology department. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Tilburg-Ouwens.