DEPARTMENT OF

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY

The Department of Systems Biology is situated on the second floor of Building 28. Our facility is equipped with state-of-the-art biochemistry and molecular biology instruments, as well as S1 and S2 biosafety laboratories. We actively collaborate with groups both on and off campus and are always interested in new cooperation partners. For collaboration inquiries, please contact Dr. Anna Dittrich or Prof. Dr. Fred Schaper.

Our S2 Cell Culture Laboratory is equipped with four sterile hoods, cell culture incubators, an automated cell counter (Vi-Cell XR), centrifuges, and a fume hood. We also have a smaller S1 cell culture area with one sterile hood located adjacent to the confocal laser scanning microscope. An IBIDI pump system with four fluidic units allows cells to be incubated under defined physiological flow conditions. An EVOS fluorescence microscope with a digital camera enables the documentation of cell morphology and fluorescence.

We have a BD FACSMelody cell sorter, equipped with yellow/green, violet, and blue lasers, capable of sorting cells into up to four different populations or various cell culture dishes. The cell sorter offers single-cell sorting with indexing for easy isolation of single-cell clones. Additionally, we routinely use a FACSCanto II with blue, red, and violet lasers for extra- and intracellular flow cytometry.

Our Gel Documentation Lab features an iNTAS UV transilluminator with an attached camera for analytical and preparative agarose gels. Western blot membranes can be documented using chemiluminescence detection (ImageQuant LAS 4000 Mini, GE Healthcare) or fluorescence detection with a near-infrared imaging system (Odyssey, LI-COR), which also allows scanning of fluorescent samples in gels.

Our PCR Lab is equipped with a gradient thermocycler (Eppendorf) and a Biometra TRIO thermocycler for cloning, cDNA synthesis, and other routine PCRs. For gene expression analysis, we use a Rotor-Gene Q (Qiagen). Sample preparation is automated by a Qiagility pipetting robot (Qiagen).

We have a confocal Zeiss LSM700 laser scanning microscope with a live cell imaging chamber, allowing the analysis of cells under defined temperature and CO₂ conditions. The microscope is located in a fully equipped S1 cell culture area, including a cell culture incubator and laminar flow hood.

Our TECAN Infinite M200pro plate reader measures fluorescence, absorption, and chemiluminescence in microplates.

Our biochemistry and molcular biology laboratories are fully equipped, including a SpeedVac Concentrator (DNA120, Thermo Fisher), an Implen Nanophotometer, and an Ultra Sonic Digital Sonifier (Branson). 

We have two shaking incubators (Minitron, INFORS) for culturing bacteria at defined temperatures and an Avanti high-speed cooling centrifuge.

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