Human Isolation Facility
Within the Centre for Life Sciences, 4 studios are constructed, for housing human subjects in isolation. In particular, no information about the time of day is available to the subjects, in order to be able to study the influence of the biological clock on behavior, physiology and psychology. The studios are equipped with computer-controlled high-intensity light fixtures, by which light intensity and color can be regulated dynamically. Currently this is used to investigate optimization (in terms of alertness and hormone production) of shift work conditions.
Special Tools
CBN developed a novel robotic system for high-throughput luminometry for monitoring gene expression over weeks and owns a high performance microscope for the simultaneous live-cell imaging. In addition, we recently acquired a special dual-task confocal scanning microscopy, in which both high-intensity fluorescent images can be generated simultaneous with low-intensity luciferase images. While fluorescence can be used to, for instance, discriminate neurons from other cells in appropriately modified tissue, luciferase can be used to quantify specific gene expression in those neurons.
Electronmicroscopy and 2-photon Confocal Laser Microscopy nearby
At the Centre for Life Sciences a general EM lab is available as a service department. The EM expertise was developed by the scientific staff of the research group of Eukaryotic Microbiology, which houses three transmission electron microscopes and has all necessary equipment available including service staff for ultrastructure studies. Since two years a Zeiss two-photon CLSM is available also to the CBN groups of the Life Sciences.
CBN and the Neuroimaging Centre
A major development at the level of the Research School was the establishment of a Neuroimaging Centre (NiC) in 2001, which was exclusively set up for research activities. The NiC is housed downtown in the former Pharmacy building and has a dedicated support staff, inhouse office space for BCN researchers and Ph.D. students, a 3T fMRI, multielectrode EEG, TMS and a PET facility with two PET cameras, a cyclotron and all necessary analysis equipment.
