ECWG equipment and service

• two Dionex HPLCs
• three scintillation counters (Beckman LS6500 and LS5000)
• Leica DM200 LED fluorescent microscope equiped with Leica DFC7000T camera
• radioisotope thin-layer analyser (AR-2000 Bioscan Imaging scanner),
• high-voltage (5 kV) electrophoresis system (with tanks set up at pH 2.0, 3.5, and 6.5),
• multilabel plate reader (Victor X3 PE 2030; measuring luminiscence, fluorescence, UV/VIS absorbance),
• two digital imaging systems (MultiDoc-It UV/VIS for TLC, paper-chromatogram and paper-electrophoretogram size),
• Rotofor liquid-phase IEF purification system (BioRad) + HV PowerPac Power Supply (BioRad) + Desktop unichiller (Huber)
• two MiniProtean 3 tetra cell electrophoresis system (BioRad)
• BlueHorizon IEF electrophoresis system (Serva)
• UV-visible spectrophotometer
• speedVac concentrators and freeze dryer,
• benchtop and high-speed chilling centrifuges,
• ultracentrifuge,
• benchtop shakers (microtitration plate format & bigger formats)
• block heaters (for MT plates, 1-2 ml, 15 ml and 50 ml test tubes)
• three balances (± 1 mg and ±10 µg),
• tissue culture facilities,
• full-size paper chromatography tanks,
• IBM-compatible computers, printers and A3 scanner,
• several fraction collectors,
• sonicators,
• ultraturrax,
• fan ovens (+260 °C; +310 °C)
• and all the routine equipment needed for the work.

Other facilities available within the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences include fluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, automated autoradiogram developing, PCR and a mass-spectrometry service.

Services to other laboratories

The Edinburgh Cell Wall Group performs carbohydrate analyses using the Dionex HPLC. It also performs preparative and analytical work using high-voltage paper electrophoresis and paper chromatography. Non-labelled and labelled substrates for carbohydrate and phenolic work can be supplied on a commercial or collaborative basis. A fluorescent 'dot-blot' assay kit for xyloglucan endotransglycosylase (XET) and mixed-linkage glucan : xyloglucan endotransglycosylase (MXE) activity testing can be supplied as well. For details, please contact Prof. Fry.