The Resnick Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Facility (EBEF)
About the Resnick Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Facility (EBEF)
The Resnick Ecology and Biosphere Engineering Facility (EBEF) supports the study of life across spatial scales. We can assist with the isolation, cultivation, and genetic manipulation of diverse (micro)organisms; plant cultivation; fluorescence in situ hybridization and microscopy; protein expression and purification; anaerobic techniques; and more.
The EBEF is located in the Resnick Sustainability Center. It features dedicated space for microbiology and microscopy in the basement, with additional flex space for plant cultivation on the first floor. The laboratory spaces are designed for BSL2+ containment, enabling studies of transgenic plants, microbes, and soils from around the world. The EBEF is a flexible space that can be tailored to individual needs, and so we encourage prospective collaborators to contact us early to discuss their research.
Leadership + Location
Dr. Nate Glasser is the director of the EBEF, located in RSC B120. Please reach out to Dr. Glasser if you are interested in using the facility. View Map.
Facility access
Prospective EBEF users should fill out the project intake form and email it to Dr. Glasser.
For long-term experiments requiring ≥2 weeks of continuous equipment use, such as plant growth experiments, please also fill out the RSI Facilities and Center Access Request form.
Card access will be granted after a safety walkthrough. The EBEF is an active wet-lab space, and so all users must complete Caltech's Lab Safety Orientation and Laboratory Hazardous Waste Training. Users interested in BSL2 experiments must also complete the Biosafety – Comprehensive / BSL2 Training and Bloodborne Pathogens Training.
Equipment
Main lab (basement)
Confocal microscope
The Dragonfly spinning disk confocal microscope captures high-resolution images with very short exposure times, making it ideal for experiments that require minimal photobleaching, large Z-stacks or montages, or Nyquist sampling. The Dragonfly is recommended for timelapse imaging and FISH experiments such as seqFISH. We can accommodate multi-day reservations for timelapse experiments.
Microscope base: Nikon Ti2-E with perfect focus system (PFS)
Objectives from the Nikon λD series: 2X air, 10X air, 20X air, 40X air, 60X oil
Laser lines: 405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm, 637 nm
Bandpass filters: 445/46 nm, 521/38 nm, 594/43 nm, 698/77 nm
Camera: Zyla 4.2 PLUS (2048×2048 pixels)
Stage: ASI piezo stage with 500 µm travel distance
Stage-top incubator: Okolab BL3
For other imaging needs, please contact the Biological Imaging Facility.
Plasma cleaner
The plasma cleaner is used for cleaning glass slides and coverslips for microscopy, and for bonding PDMS to glass surfaces for microfluidic chips.
Incubators
We have three Eppendorf S44i shaking incubators. The bottom two can refrigerate and include optional photosynthetic LED lights. The top unit is heating only (≥ 30 °C).We also have several non-shaking incubators covering a wide temperature range (17–70 °C) for incubating plates and other static cultures.
Anaerobic chambers
We have two Coy vinyl anaerobic chambers with an atmosphere of 95% N2/5% H2. Up to 20% CO2 can be added to the atmosphere if needed.
Chamber 1 houses our liquid handling robot and a 96-well potentiostat.
Chamber 2 is an extra wide chamber with a swinging-bucket centrifuge.
Liquid handling robot
The Hamilton Microlab Prep is an easy-to-use liquid handler for basic high throughput assays. No coding knowledge is required. It can perform serial dilutions and set up 96-well plate experiments. The robot is currently inside an anaerobic chamber to assist with anaerobic colony forming unit assays.
Plate reader
The Agilent BioTek Epoch 2 plate reader is a workhorse for 96-well growth assays. It can incubate up to 65 °C and features a mechanism to prevent condensation when using plate lids. This unit does not measure fluorescence, only absorbance.
Thermocycler
The ProFlex PCR system can run 3 blocks independently with two temperature zones per block.
Gel imager and electrophoresis equipment
The Azure 300 gel imager takes high quality images of Coomassie-, SYBR-, or ethidium bromide-stained gels. We also have electrophoresis chambers and a power supply for running DNA and protein gels.
Media prep room
The media prep room is dedicated to preparing media and buffers. It has balances, a pH meter, MilliQ water, and a laminar flow hood for RNase- or trace metal-free work.
Freezer room
The freezer room houses 4 °C fridges and −20 °C and −70 °C freezers. EBEF users can reserve space for temperature-sensitive reagents or cryopreserved live cultures.
Biosafety cabinet
A large 6-foot biosafety cabinet is available for BSL2 or contamination-sensitive experiments. Before beginning BSL2 work, EBEF users must complete Caltech's comprehensive BSL2 training course and consult with the EBEF director about their project.
Large autoclave
The AMSCO 630LS autoclave has a large chamber with dimensions 26″×37.5″×43″ (W×H×D), suitable for autoclaving tall bioreactors or many media bottles.
Miscellaneous equipment
The EBEF also has many miscellaneous items for setting up experiments, including:
- Micropipettes
- Multichannel pipettes
- Vortexers
- Refrigerated microcentrifuge
- Refrigerated swinging bucket centrifuge
- Water baths
- Stereomicroscope
- Ice machine
Plant lab (1st floor)
Reach-in plant growth chambers
We have 2 Conviron Gen1000 chambers (single door) and 1 Gen2000 (double door) chamber. Each is fully programmable with temperature, light, additive CO2, and additive humidity. Long-term reservations are available for plant cultivation.
Walk-in plant growth chamber
Like the reach-in chambers, the Conviron GR48 walk-in chamber is fully programmable for temperature, light, additive CO2, and additive humidity. The walk-in chamber is used when an experiment requires many plants or taller plants. It can also house other equipment that needs to be environmentally controlled.
Biosafety cabinet
A 4-foot biosafety cabinet is available for setting up axenic experiments or containing potential plant pathogens.
Large autoclave
The 1st floor autoclave is intended for autoclaving soil and plant waste after large experiments. It can sterilize multiple bags of soil in a single load. This unit includes an optional effluent decontamination cycle in case of spore-contaminated soil.