Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine is well equipped to carry out basic and applied biomedical research. We have standard laboratory materials and equipment as well as the specialist equipment below.
Cell and tissue culture
Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine has cell culture facilities for microbiology and mammalian cell culture, which also include lentivirus and stem cell suites. These are equipped with incubators, laminar flow hoods, microscopes and a Neon™ transfection system (Thermo Scientific). We also have BioSpherix X3 and Don Whitley Scientific H35 hypoxia stations, for culturing cells in hypoxic and anoxic conditions within a controlled environment.
There are additional, dedicated facilities, including safety cabinets, for working with biological fluids and tissues.
Microscopy
We have an Olympus IX81 live cell imaging/fluorescence microscope (purchased with the support of Gravida), as well as an ImageXpress Pico imager with gas and environmental controls. These allow us to capture time-lapse images and real-time measurements in a temperature and oxygen-controlled environment. Our Zeiss Axio Imager fluorescence microscope provides high quality fluorescent images of fixed cells and tissue sections at greater magnification.
Gel imaging
We have two UVITEC biomolecular imagers at Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine: an Alliance, and an Alliance Q9 Advanced. They produce high quality UV, chemiluminescence and fluorescence imaging, as well as quantification, for polyacrylamide and agarose gels and Western blots.
Flow cytometry
There are two Becton Dickinson flow cytometers available at the Centre for Free Radical Research, for the detection and measurement of fluorescently-labelled and unlabelled cells of all types. We have a new CytoFLEX S, which is capable of 13-parameter analysis, and a Cytomics FC 500 MPC with three laser channels.
Mass spectrometry
Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine uses a Sciex 6500 and a 4000 QTRAP for quantitative analysis of small molecules and peptides, and a Thermo LTQ Velos Pro Ion-Trap for qualitative analysis of proteins and peptides.
High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) & fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC)
We have three Ultimate 3000 HPLC pumps from Thermo Scientific, each with autosamplers, and photo diode array (PDA), electro chemical detection (ECD) and fluorescence detection systems. We also house two FPLC systems: a Bio-Rad BioLogic DuoFlow and a new ÄKTA pure protein purification system, with a multi-column valve and automated sample fractionation, for large-scale purification of proteins and peptides.
Spectrophotometry
We have Agilent diode array and Hitachi U-3900 dual beam analytical multi-cuvette spectrophotometers. We also have a Nanodrop ND-1000 spectrophotometer, for accurate measurement of nucleic acids and proteins in very small volumes, and a DirectDetect® infrared spectrometer for total protein quantitation. To compliment these, we also have a range of multipurpose platereaders for absorbance, fluorescence and luminescence applications. These include a MultiSkan GO (Thermo Scientific), a Synergy Neo2 with injectors and environmental gas control (BioTek) and a new monochromatic SpectraMax iD3 with dual injectors (Molecular Devices).
Benchtop equipment
We have an extensive range of small equipment, for sample handling and processing, as well as for molecular biology. These include a Precellys® Tissue Homogeniser with Cryolys Evolution cooling system, an Implen Nanophotometer, an Eppendorf Mastercycler thermal cycler, heating blocks, probe and bath sonicators, freeze-driers and a range of ambient and cooling bench-top centrifuges. For sample storage, we have liquid nitrogen dewars, a cool room (4 °C) and freezers at -20 °C and -80 °C.
