Microbiology facilities

Microbiology facilities

Our microbiology laboratory offers a range of equipment allowing users to safely handle, store and work with a variety of aerobic and anaerobic microbes at ACDP hazard category II level. We also have a number of pieces of sample capture / manipulation / enumeration equipment, such as air samplers, an anaerobic chamber, a stomacher 400 circulator and a Colony Doc-it Imaging Station, which provides measurement of zones of inhibition and radial diffusion assays, enabling rapid quantification of results for antimicrobial activity assays.

Our experienced staff carry out microbiology-based projects covering a range of activities and applications, allowing us to identify, characterise and use a wide range of microbes.

We also have a Stomacher 400 Circulator by Seward which is used at the outset of determining the microbial content of environmental samples, food products etc: samples to be tested are homogenised aseptically using the Stomacher, enabling the recovery of microorganisms present deep within the sample as well as those present on the surface. This enables us to obtain more accurate microbial counts since any microbes present are distributed evenly throughout the homogenised sample, avoiding any localised pockets of microbial growth within the sample. Efficient homogenisation of samples is also vital in downstream molecular applications, such as pathogen detection using qPCR or microbial community analysis using genotyping, and next generation sequencing methods.

Our equipment also includes a surface air system (SAS) air sampler which are portable devices used to capture the microorganisms present within an indoor environment. Known volumes of air are drawn through numerous holes present on the lid of the device and deposited onto the surface of an agar plate contained within the equipment. The agar plates can then be removed and incubated to allow the captured microbes to grow for subsequent identification. This equipment is an invaluable tool in determining sources of contamination in the production environment.

Activities include:

Isolation of environmental microbes (provides freedom to operate)
Mutagenesis and improvement of microbial strains for a trait of interest
Culturing of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms
Measurement of zones of inhibition / antimicrobial activity testing
Recovery of microorganisms deep within samples
Isolation of airborne microorganisms
Independent testing / validation of products and processes: identification of contaminants in products or production environments
Microbial identification

To use the microbiology facilities or find out more about its capabilities, please contact us.

We have an extensive range of raw materials characterisation equipment, see below.

Raw materials characterisation

Agilent 2200 TapeStation nucleic acids system

The 2200 TapeStation is ideal for the very rapid characterisation of DNA or RNA samples, including quality assessment, establishing DNA/RNA size ranges and quantification.

Analytical equipment

We have a variety of analytical equipment available at the centre.

Benchtop NMR analyser

The Benchtop NMR Analyser is based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and allows for fast, accurate, reproducible and solvent-free measurement of oil, fat and moisture in oil seeds, seed cake and foodstuffs.

Gas chromatography

Gas chromatography (GC) is a flexible technique that allows separation and quantification of chemical substances found within a complex mixture.

High performance liquid chromatography

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is a flexible technique that allows separation and quantification of chemical substances found within a complex mixture.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS)

The Agilent 7700x ICP-MS is capable of measuring metal and non-metal elements in concentrations of parts per trillion.

Molecular analysis facilities

We have established a set of molecular analysis labs to enable a variety of genetic analysis applications to be carried out.