Facilities

This laboratory will be used to investigate how microorganisms that can cause healthcare associated infections colonise and persist in healthcare environments and to test the efficacy of cleaning and disinfection practices.

Specialised and dedicated facilities will be available to culture specific mammalian cell lines and primary cells. They will provide a sterile environment to protect cell lines for expansion cultures and harvesting. These facilities will be used to support our research in arthritis, COPD, reproductive immunology, stem cell research and parasitology.

Flow cytometry helps us understand how cells are behaving through their protein expression. Through this technique we can define separate cell populations that can characterise tissues and how our bodies respond to infections or behave during adverse immune reactions.

This laboratory will be used to provide support in pathology analysis through histology. This diagnostic technique helps visualise cell infiltration of tissues that can be indicative of disease states (autoimmunity, tissue remodelling, necrosis, tumour growth etc).

Fluorescent microscopy is used to identify molecules in cells through fluorescent labelled antibody or membrane or DNA binding dyes or probes. Fluorescent microscopy is used in both biomedical and zoological research to understand what cells are composed of and how molecules are distributed in the cells. Examples include understanding the consequences of gene expression through protein localisation, and defining the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and free-living amoebae.