Major BBML Equipment

The BBML is located in the Science and Engineering Laboratory Building at IUPUI. The lab consists of 1600 square feet of wet lab space, with additional space dedicated to cell culture and microscopy. The lab is equipped with all equipment necessary to conduct multiscale biomechanics research as well as general cell and molecular work. The following facilities and equipment are available:

Mechanical Testing: The mechanical testing section of the lab is fully equipped with all equipment necessary for multiscale mechanical characterizations of a variety of tissue types and sizes. Major equipment includes:
  1. TA ElectroForce 3200 Series Test Instrument (22N, 45N and 225N load cells, all fixtures necessary for tension, compression, and bending as well as monotonic and dynamic loading). System has fixtures optimized for in vivo tibial loading and ulnar compression in mice. Also has a sterile bioreactor setup for loading biomaterial-based scaffolds or whole bones ex vivo.
  2. A second TA ElectroForce 3230 Series Test Instrument with 450 N load capacity (45N and 450N load cells, all fixtures necessary for tension, compression, and bending as well as monotonic and dynamic loading). System is equipped with Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) capabilites intended for measurement of viscoelastic characteristics of materials.
  3. Two TA ElectroForce 5500 Series Test Instruments (45N and 225N load cells, all fixtures necessary for tension, compression and bending as well as monotonic and dynamic loading)
  4. Test Resources 100 Series Test Instruments (5 x R Series Controllers, 2250 N capacity, all fixtures necessary for tension, compression and bending as well as monotonic and dynamic loading)
  5. MTS MiniBionix 858 testing instrument (25kN / 250 N-m capacity, all fixtures necessary for tension, compression, bending and torsion as well as monotonic and dynamic loading)
  6. Hysitron TI-980 Triboindenter (VA) - this system is directly integrate with the Renishaw Raman system noted below for colocalized mechanical and compositional information.
Mechanical Stimulation: The mechanical stimulation section of the lab is fully equipped with all equipment necessary for in vitro and in vivo mechanical loading studies. Major equipment includes:
  1. TA ElectroForce 3200 Series Test Instrument noted above: fixtures optimized for in vivo tibial loading and ulnar compression in mice. Also has a sterile bioreactor setup for loading biomaterial-based scaffolds or whole bones ex vivo.
  2. Columbus Instruments Exer-3/6 Open Treadmill for mice and rats.
  3. Cole-Parmer Masterflex L/S Series Peristaltic Pump (for parallel plate flow chamber)
  4. Flexcell FX-5000 Tension System (cell loading on flexible membranes)
  5. Flexcell Streamer Fluid Shear system
Imaging: The imaging section of the lab has equipment necessary for imaging and material characterization across multiple length scales. Major equipment in the lab or in collaborator's labs includes:
  1. Bruker Catalyst Atomic Force Microscope (AFM): This AFM is specifically designed for biological imaging and indentation applications. Top-view optics allow for simultaneous optical imaging of opaque samples. AFM is mounted on a Leica DMI3000 inverted optical microscope for use with transparent samples.
  2. Zeiss Axio Imager M2 Upright fluorescent microscope (reflected brightfield, LED transmitted light, Reflected and Transmitted Cross Polarization)
  3. Skyscan 1272 high-resolution desktop micro-computed tomography system
  4. PerkinElmer Spotlight 400N and Spectrum 3 Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR) system
  5. Renishaw InVia Raman Spectrometer with confocal laser excitation at 488 nm and 785 nm (VA)
  6. Medikor InAlyzer2 DEXA Body Composition Analyzer for Laboratory Animals
  7. Leica SP8 MP confocal/multi-photon microscope mounted on an upright motorized stage equipped with with confocal laser excitation at 405, 448, 488, 522, and 633 nm and multi-photon fluorescence excitation provided by a fully automated Spectra-Physics MaiTai DeepSee laser (Indiana Center for Biological Microscopy, IUSM).
  8. Olympus FV1000 confocal/2-photon microscope mounted on an inverted microscope stand with confocal laser excitation at 488, 514, 568 and 633 nm and multiphoton laser excitation at 690-1040nm (Indiana Center for Biological Microscopy, IUSM).
  9. Nikon Optiphot research microscope - stage registration for brightfield and epifluorescence analyses, linked to Bioquant Osteo image analysis software (IUSM)
  10. JEOL JSM-7800F Extreme-resolution Analytical Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (IUPUI Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute)
Sample Processing: The processing section of the lab has equipment necessary to prepare samples for multiple assay categories. Major equipment includes:
  1. Formlabs Form 3 Low Force Stereolithography (LFS) 3D Printer
  2. Laxco Stereo Microscope
  3. Fisher Scientific Stereomaster Stereo Microscope
  4. Mar-Med Bone Band Saw
  5. Buehler Isomet low-speed sectioning saw
  6. Buehler Ecomet 30, Ecomet 3000, and Ecomet I polisher/grinder
  7. Fisher Scientific Bath Sonicator
  8. Chemical Safety Hood
  9. Skil Band Saw
  10. Reichert-Jung 2050 Supercut, Jung 820 Histocut and Reichert-Jung Polycut microtomes (IUSM)
  11. 2 x DDK diamond wire sectioning saws (IUSM)
  12. Shandon automatic processor and Tissue-tek Embedding Center (IUSM)
Cell and Molecular Biology: The cell and molecular biology section of lab has equipment necessary to culture tissues and cells and perform general assay. Major equipment includes:
  1. Leica DMI3000 inverted optical/fluorescent microscope with CoolSnap CCD camera: This microscope is equipped with two-channel fluorescence filters (FITC and Texas Red) and a CCD camera.
  2. Nikon Eclipse TS100 inverted microscope
  3. Tecan Spark multimode plate reader (absorbance, fluorescence, luminescence, fluorescence polarization)
  4. Nanodrop One Spectrophotometer
  5. Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 3 Real Time PCR System: Equipped with 96 wells block and Flexible, color platform calibrated for: FAM/SYBR Green, VIC/JOE/HEX/TET, ABY/NED/TAMRA/Cy3, JUN, ROX/Texas Red.
  6. Thermo Scientific Heracell VIOS 160i CO2 Incubator with Copper Chamber
  7. Fisher Scientific Isotemp CO2 Incubator
  8. Thermo Fisher Scientific Sorvall Legend Micro 21R refrigerated microcentrifuge
  9. NuAire Labgard 425 Class II Type A2 Biological Safety Cabinet biological safety cabinet
  10. Fisher Scientific Digital Water Baths and Digital Bead Baths
  11. Refrigerator (4ºC) and freezer space for sample storage (-20ºC and -80ºC)
  12. Milli-Q direct water purification system
  13. Ice and Liquid Nitrogen Access adjacent to the lab

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