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NSF BioFoundry for Extreme & Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria

Countless advances have occurred in synthetic biology, which has focused on microorganisms that are easy to grow, domesticate and proliferate under laboratory conditions. Yet, domesticated microbes are often devoid of the traits that we want to exploit most for biotechnology. The most successful biological products in nature are built almost entirely by unusual microorganisms, many of which have unique growth habits and are unwieldy. For biotechnology to advance, we need to tap into the previously un-accessed genetic diversity in nature’s extreme microbes.

The NSF BioFoundry for Extreme & Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria is developing first-of-their-kind user platforms and equipment to enable the discovery, phenotyping and engineering of extreme microbes to harness their power and promise and enable the next generation of synthetic biology.

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Instruments

  1. Agilent 5300 Fragment Analyzer

    Parallel capillary electrophoresis for qualitative and quantitative analysis of nucleic acids, equipped with a 48-capillary array.

  2. Agilent Plateloc Plate Sealer

    Automated thermal microplate sealer.

  3. Beckman Echo 525 Acoustic Liquid Handler

    Rapid, precise, and contactless transfer of liquids at nanoliter scale.

  4. Beckman Optima XE-90 Ultracentrifuge
  5. BioTek Cytation 10 Confocal Imager

    Hybrid imaging and multimedia plate readers that integrate confocal microscopy with automated well plate processing. Offers flexibility for fluorescence, brightfield and live imaging for data acquisition across multiple samples and experimental conditions.

  6. Thermo Scientific ISQ-7610 GCMS

    Gas chromatograph coupled to a single quadrupole mass spectrometer and flame ionization detector. Equipped with a TriPlus RSH smart autosampler capable of liquid, headspace, and SPME sample introduction.

  7. Thermo Scientific TSQ Altis Plus LCMS

    Triple quadrupole mass spectrometer coupled to a Vanquish Flex ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system for separation and analysis of small molecule metabolites and peptides.