Infrastructure

Specifications: The Guava® Muse® Cell Analyzer is a compact and portable instrument for fluorescence-based analysis, consisting of cell analysis software and reagents optimized for performing a wide range of cell assays with up to two fluorescent parameters in addition to direct scatter determination. The device is designed for easy and intuitive use and minimal maintenance. The integrated touch screen provides an easy-to-use software interface for operating the system. The Guava® Muse® Cell Analyzer uses miniaturized fluorescent detection and microcapillary technology to provide quantitative cell analysis of both suspended and adherent cells from 2 to 60 μm in diameter. The software includes a dedicated module for each test, as well as a tool for checking performance and cleaning the instrument’s fluid system. The modules allow researchers to stain samples with their own antibodies conjugated to fluorochromes, dyes, or other reagents that are excited by a 532 nm laser. The yellow parameter uses a 576/28 emission detection channel and can be used to detect fluorochromes such as Phycoerythrin (PE), Cy3, Alexa Fluor® 555 and Dylight® 550. The red parameter uses a 680 emission detection channel /30 and can be used for the detection of fluorochromes such as PE-Cy5, 7-AAD and propidium iodide (PI).

Uniqueness: The Muse® Cell Analyzer is a unique instrument that enables multidimensional cell health analysis on a single platform. It offers a simplified format enables researchers of varying experience levels to obtain a comprehensive picture of cellular health; effortless acquisition and analysis of samples using mix-and-read assays; highly simplified and intuitive touchscreen interface delivers rapid measurements of cell concentration, viability, apoptotic status, and cell cycle distribution, highly sensitive, accurate and rapid detection using minimal cell numbers, superior precision compared to traditional methods.

Applicability: cell counting, viability assays, proliferation, apoptosis and oxidative stress, determination of cell cycle phases, study of extracellular and intracellular expression of fluorescently labeled receptors

Fields: molecular biology, molecular diagnosis, immunology, microbiology, biochemistry, medical biology

Teaching provided: Metabolic biochemistry, Bionanotechnologies; Biochemistry of proteins and introduction to proteomics, Biochemistry of nucleic acids and introduction to genomics; Immunobiology, Medical Biochemistry, Modern Biochemical and Biophysical Methods, (3) Immunobiology; Environmental molecular biology, at the Bachelor’s degree specializations (Biochemistry, Biology and Industrial Biotechnologies) and Master (Molecular Biotechnology and Medical Biology (LR and LM); PhD – Doctoral School of Integrative Biology) specializations.

Person in-charge:

• Lecturer Dr. Rauca Valentin-Florian – rauca@ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Pătraș Laura-Ioana – patras@ubbcluj.ro

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-18; with e-mail programming.

Specifications: Axio Vert.A1 FL inverted microscope (Carl Zeiss Instruments, Germany) for examination in transmitted light, light field and phase contrast. State-of-the-art LED fluorescence source. AxioCam 208c color digital camera. Image acquisition and analysis software.
Uniqueness: The inverted microscope with state-of-the-art fluorescence source – Colibri 5, has 4-channel LED for viewing the following fluorochromes: Red: at 630nm, for Cy5 excitations, Alexa 631 nm, Toto-3 and similar colors; Green: at 475 nm, for Cy3, TRITC, DsRED excitations and similar colors; Blue: at 475nm for eGFP, Fluo4, FITC excitations and similar colors; Ultraviolet: at 385 nm for DAPI, Alexa 405, Hoechst 33258 and similar colors. It has the option of generating high resolution images with overlapping colors. The microscope has ECO Power function, a 8.3 Megapixel AxioCam 208c digital camera and image acquisition and analysis software (ZEN 3.0 lite + ZEN lite / starter Module Measurement).
Applicability: cell counting, observation of mammalian cell morphology in 2D and 3D culture, intracellular uptake studies for different fluorescent compounds, cell apoptosis studies, medical diagnostic methods (immunofluorescence), examination of biological fluids or other tissues (from plants, animals, human).

• Fields: Cell Biology, Immunology, Oncobiology, Hematology, Parasitology, Histopathology, Embryology, Plant/Animal/ Human Histology.

Teaching provided: Immunobiology, Modern biochemical and biophysical methods, Bionanotechnologies (Master, Molecular biotechnologies); Environmental molecular biology (Doctoral School of Integrative Biology).

Persons in-charge:

• Associate Prof.Dr Habil.. Manuela Banciu – manuela.banciu@ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Alina Sesărman – alina.sesarman@ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Emilia Licărete – emilia_licarete@yahoo.com

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above.

Specifications: The FLUOstar Omega multi-detection microplate reader provides the following detection modes: Ultra-fast UV/vis absorbance spectra or filter-based absorbance; fluorescence intensity (allows the use of multi-excitation and multi-emission applications, such as FRET, BRET, FURA-2 and other ratiometric methods); luminescence (flash & glow).

Uniqueness: The FLUOstar® Omega is is built upon BMG LABTECH’s unique Tandem Technology. This is a combination of two technological concepts – an ultra-fast, full spectrum absorbance spectrometer, and extremely sensitive filter-based detection, with advanced optics and a photomultiplier tube to provide superior sensitivity for all detection modes.

Applicability: detection and quantitation of antibodies against clinically relevant molecular markers, quatitation of endotoxins, nucleic acids, proteins, measurement of enzyme activity, ATP quantitation, microbial and animal cell growth monitoring by optical density.

Fields: molecular biology, biochemistry, molecular diagnostics, immunology, microbiology.

Teaching provided: Metabolic Biochemistry, Immunobiology, Biochemistry of Proteins and Introduction to Proteomics, Biochemistry of Lipids and Carbohydrates (undergraduate – Biology, Biochemistry); Modern Biochemical and Biophysical Methods, Bionanotechnology (Master – Molecular Biotechnology), Medical Biochemistry, Molecular Immunology (Master – Medical Biology)
Persons in-charge:

• Assoc Prof. Manuela Banciu – manuela.banciu[a]ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Alina Sesărman – alina.sesarman[a]ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Emilia Licărete – emilia.licarete[a]yahoo.com

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above.

Specifications: The ChemiDoc Imaging System provides fast, reliable, and sensitive imaging and documentation of gels and chemiluminescence Western blots. This system is compatible with stain-free technology, chemiluminescence detection, and a wide range of gel stains such as ethidium bromide, SYPRO Ruby, Coomassie, and silver stains. The ChemiDoc Imaging System can be upgraded to gain the full multiplex fluorescent Western blotting capabilities

Applicability: nucleic acid and protein research.

Fields: molecular biology, proteomics, immunology, genetics, molecular diagnosis.

Teaching provided: Metabolic biochemistry; Biochemistry of proteins; Biochemistry of nucleic acids, Immunobiology (undergraduate – Biochemistry); Recombinant DNA Technologies, Medical Biochemistry (Master – Molecular Biotechnology and Medical Biology); Environmental Molecular Biology (PhD – Doctoral School of Integrative Biology).

Person in-charge: Lecturer Dr. Alina Sesărman – alina.sesarman[a]ubbcluj.ro

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming.

Specifications: Axio Scope A1 Microscope HAL 50, FL-LED, 3x H Microscope, 3x DIC with Fluorescence Module (365 nm and 540 nm fluorescence), Axio Cam 105 color camera with CMOS sensor, 5 Mpixels resolution

Uniqueness: Optical microscope with multiple functions (direct light, phase contrast, dark field, fluorescence)

Applicability: cell count, cell morphology, cellular structures (fungal, animal and plant cells), cell viability assessment.

Fields: environmental and medical microbiology, cell biology, animal cell cultures, hematology, animal / plant histology, histopathology.

Teaching provided: Biophysics (undergraduate – Biology, Biochemistry); Modern Biochemical and Biophysical Methods (Master – Molecular Biotechnology)

Persons in-charge:

• Prof. Horia Banciu – horia.banciu[a]ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Emilia Licărete – emilia.licarete[a]ubbcluj.ro
• Teaching Assist. Laura Pătraș – patras.laura88[a]yahoo.com

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above.

Specifications: C1000 Touch ™ thermocycler model with CFX96 ™ optical module (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA). Optical detection: Excitation 6 filtered LEDs; Detection of 6 filtered photodiodes; Range of excitation / emission wavelengths 450-730 nm; Detection sensitivity 1 copy of the target genomic DNA sequence; dedicated software for data analysis.

Applicability: amplification and quantification of gene sequences, melting curve analysis, gene expression analysis, allelic discrimination.

Fields: molecular biology, genetics, molecular diagnosis, genomics, transcriptomics.

Teaching provided: Biochemistry of nucleic acids with genomic elements (undergraduate – Biochemistry); Structure and evolution of the genome (Master – Molecular Biotechnology); Environmental Molecular Biology (PhD – Doctoral School of Integrative Biology).

Persons in-charge:

• Prof. Horia Banciu – horia.banciu[a]ubbcluj.ro
• Lecturer Dr. Alina Sesărman – alina.sesarman[a]ubbcluj.ro

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above.

Specifications: Processor Xeon® Gold 6252 24C/48T 150W 2.10G 35.75M 10.40GT/sec ITT, Memory 12 X 64GB_LRDIMM_2666

Applicability: NGS data analysis, genome assembly, phylogenomics, comparative genomics,  metabolic reconstruction

Fields: advanced bioinformatics, molecular biology, molecular ecology, biodiversity, medical genomics and proteomics, interactomics.

Teaching provided: Biochemistry of nucleic acids with genomic elements & Introduction to Bioinformatics  (undergraduate – Biochemistry); Structure and evolution of the genome & Bioinformatics (Master – Molecular Biotechnology); Environmental Molecular Biology (PhD – Doctoral School of Integrative Biology).

Persons in-charge:

• Prof. Horia Banciu – horia.banciu[a]ubbcluj.ro

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-17; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above. Remote access of the server is possible upon providing the appropriate username and password.

Specifications: The equipment allows simultaneous mineralization of 12 samples (rotor 12HVT) of soil, water, organic substances (plants, fungi, bacteria, food, feed), materials, petrochemical samples, plastics, polymeric materials, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, metals, alloys and geochemicals for evaluating the content of nutrients, substances in excess, toxic. It allows analysis starting from 0.2 g, which is important for samples for which the quantity is limited (e.g. toxicity experiments). Ambient temperature range up to 180 oC.

Uniqueness: SMART VEN ventilation technology, with sensor system that allows automatic detection of each reaction vessel, as well as rotor revolution monitoring, uniform microwave heating and prevention of localized overheating; IR sensor temperature control that provides different AVG, MAX, MIN temperature control strategies. Internal Temperature control in all positions / SmartTemp. All this ensures the efficiency of mineralization and increased safety for the personnel using the device. The short temperature rise and fall time ensures the rapidity of the mineralization process and allows the device to be used for more samples/day than in the classic sand bath mineralization system. Built-in standardized methods over 500 methods, simplify the flow. Directed Multimode Cavity for the shortest heating times in a small-footprint system. TURBO heating and cooling for the shortest overall process times. One-vessel digestion mode for low-throughput applications. Extremely lightweight aluminium rotor (5 kg): as an optimized integral part of the Directed Multimode Cavity, no deformation, no corrosion, no loss of stability.

Applicability: mineralization of soil samples, water and organic substances (plants, fungi, bacteria, food, feed), testing of materials, as well as petrochemical, plastic, polymer, cosmetic, metal, alloy and geochemical samples for the assessment of nutrient content, excess or toxic substances.

Fields: Geochemistry, Environment, Plant Biology, Environmental Biology, Environmental and Medical Microbiology, Cell Biology, Ecotoxicology, Physiology.

Teaching provided: Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Ecological Biochemistry, Ecophysiology (Bachelor – Industrial Biotechnologies, Biology, Biochemistry); Plant Molecular Biochemistry and Physiology (Master – Molecular Biotechnology), Environmental Molecular Biology (PhD – Doctoral School of Integrative Biology).

Persons in-charge:

· Conf. dr. Dorina Podar – dorina.podar@ubbcluj.ro

· Drd. Lorena C. Văcar – cristina.vacar@ubbcluj.ro

· Drd. Emanuela Dana Tiodar – emanuela.tiodar@ubbcluj.ro

Access: Mo to Fri, 8-16; with e-mail programming addressed to one of the specialists listed above.