Facilities
Our research facilities are located in newly refurbished state-of-the-art laboratory space in the Firth Court and Florey buildings. The Centre sits at the heart of the University, close to the Medical School and within the Department of Biomedical Science. Our premiere facilities and infrastructure to undertake cutting-edge research designed to expedite a multi-disciplinary approach in developmental and biomedical research, such as:
- Electron microscopy
- Electrophysiology
- FACS
- Wide-field confocal and TIRF microscopy
Drosophila Facilities
Many
complex genetic experiments are performed on Drosophila which are temperature
dependent. A complete laboratory is dedicated to the servicing of these
experiments with facilities for larval storage and controlled temperature
rooms.
Technicians support the breeding and feeding programs to allow researchers to maximize their research. We have a state-of-the art confocal microscope and are in the process of acquiring more.
Associated infrastructure is already established to facilitate:
- transgenics egg and larval culture
- in situ hybridization
- fluorescent microscopy including confocal microscopy
Costs are charged to groups using this facility. For help or advice in this area, please contact Katherine Whitley (K.Whitley@sheffield.ac.uk)
Xenopus Facility
The Xenopus facility has a 24 tank capacity recirculating state-of-the-art system and associated preparation area able to house up to 500 Xenopus laevis, that is available to all our research groups and independent laboratories.
For help or advice in this area, please contact Matthew Green (matthew.green@sheffield.ac.uk).
Zebrafish Facilities
The
Zebrafish facility was established in 1997 and further extended in 2004.
The facility has four independent zebrafish aquarium systems with a total capacity of approximately 23,000 litres. This allows a large number of research
groups to undertake a diverse range of experimentation.
A quarantine section is housed independently from the main aquaria and fish are fed on a twice daily supply of artemia. The filtration system is state-of-the art and relies on a self-cleaning system and the health of the tanks is facilitated by snails. The systems are supported by full-time technical staff who run the facility and breeding programs to the highest scientific and ethical standards.
Associated infrastructure is already established to facilitate:
- microinjections
- embryo culture
- embryo transplantation
- in situ hybridization
- expression profiling and bioinformatics
- fluorescent microscopy including confocal microscopy
A quarantine system is located in thw Alfred Denny Building. Support costs are charged to groups using the facilities. For help or advice in this area, please contact:
- Claire Allen (c.e.allen@sheffield.ac.uk)
- or Lisa Van Hateren (j.gleadall@sheffield.ac.uk)
