Core Facilities

• Cell Biology Core Facility

  The Cell Biology Core Facility was established in 2015. We provide advanced imaging equipment as well as technical support to researchers in FAFU and all other research communities. Supporting these imaging instruments, we also provide instruments and common reagent supplies for sample preparation. In addition, we offer frequent training sessions and consultation services to our users.

• Functional Chemical Genomics Core

  The Functional Chemical Genomics Facility houses a chemical library of plant natural compounds and a Tecan Freedom EVO200 multi-functional robotic workstation for high throughput screening. The facility also contains equipment necessary for routine mammalian cell culture. It provides fee-based screening services for the FAFU and other researchers.  The facility is also capable of designing and fabricating microfluidic devices and is open to collaboration on the development of these devices for the needs by biologists.

• Metabolomics Facility

  The Metabolomics Facility was established in 2015. It is a mass spectrometry-based facility for analyses of small molecule metabolites in a wide variety of biological systems. The Metabolomics facility currently houses two electrospray ionization mass spectrometers and two gas chromatography-mass spectrometers. We offer fee-based services to the FAFU research community and off-campus researchers. Services include initial consultation, method development, data acquisition, interpretation and presentation. Key competencies include both targeted analyses of many compound classes as well as untargeted metabolomics to uncover potential biomarkers.

• Plant Transformation Facility

  The Plant Transformation Facility contains six plant tissue culture rooms were. Each room has a controller that can set different temperatures, humidity and light intensity to satisfy the growth of different plants. Five of them were equipped with fluorescent lamps, while the sixth room with compact LED that can provide different light wavelengths. We have 5 laminar flow benches and two high pressure steam sterilizers. The facility provides services for the transformation of a variety of crop species, e.g., rice, soybean, tomato, maize and cotton. The facility also aims to develop transformation technologies for crops such as tea and quinoa.