Lab space

First of all there is main lab (A307, ML-I level laboratory) in which general microbiological and molecular biological techniques are performed such as cloning in bacteria, PCR, gel electrophoresis, western blotting, etc. Next to the equipment that makes this possible this lab is also equipped with a fume hood and two biological safety cabinets. This is the only lab that allows bacterial work and handling samples with very high copy numbers of DNA (for instance PCR products), which can both compromise tissue culture or pre-PCR work, in that sense the main lab is called a "dirty" lab.

We also have "clean" labs in which activities take place such as cell culture or (single cell) DNA & RNA isolation. These clean labs are located in separate smaller labs on the other side of the laboratory hallway and traffic between these areas is bound to logical rules that prevent contamination of cell lines and DNA & RNA isolations with bacteria and PCR product. The Tissue Culture lab (A301, ML-II level laboratory), also known as "TC", is equipped with three biosafety cabinets, five CO2 incubators, centrifuges, microscopes and Tecan readers for all tissue-, cell- and organoid culturing needs. The RNA lab (A302, ML-II level laboratory) is equipped with two biosafety cabinets and equipment meant for DNA & RNA isolation work, as well as other techniques performed with low copy numbers of DNA & RNA.

The histology lab (A303, ML-I level laboratory) is equipped with a cryostat, a microtome and a vibratome for slicing tissue, a stereo microscope with dissection tools, as well as a high speed centrifuge and large chemical safety storage cabinet.

The microscope room (A308, ML-I level laboratory) holds a confocal microscope, a slide scanner and an apotome imager for advanced imaging. Next to the mentioned labs there is a freezer room (A300) with fridges, -20°C freezers, -70°C freezers and a liquid nitrogen storage tank.

The lab kitchen (A304) is equipped with autoclaves, glassware washer, dry stove and ice machine and has cabinets with clean glassware, lab coats, etc. The cold room A305 (4°C) has a bench with shakers etc. and has storage racks in which all lab users have a storage space. The storage room (A306) is adjacent to the cold room as well as the main lab and stores much used disposables in an organized manner. In the basement there are two additional storage spaces for stock storage, GMO waste storage, archive freezers and equipment that is currently not much in use.