Facilities for students

In the Lab, you’ll have access to:

• ADInstruments kits
• Balances
• Blood analysers
• Centrifuges
• Flame photometer
• Fume hoods
• Gel imagers
• Kjeldahl digestion block and distiller
• Light microscopes
• pH meters
• Pipettes
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines
• Soxhlet extraction system
• UV-Vis spectrophotometers.

Year 1

In your first year, you’ll familiarise yourself with some of the basic equipment by completing introductory experiments. Depending on the modules you study, the other experiments you’ll complete will vary.

Bacteriology

• Carrying out serial dilution
• Enumeration techniques for bacteria
• Handling cultures
• Isolating bacteria
• Performing Gram stains
• Using diagnostic tests to identify groups of bacteria

Biochemistry

• Enzyme properties and the effect of substrate concentration
• Protein assay and standard curve generation
• Thin-layer chromatography
• Titrations and use of a pH meter

Cell Biology

• Histological staining
• Light microscopical examination of histological specimens
• Observation of dividing cells and their chromosomes
• Subcellular fractionation of cauliflower by differential centrifugation

Evolutionary Origins of Biodiversity

• Lake chemistry – turbidity, pH, nitrate an orthophosphate concentration, and dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll determination
• Microscopy and odentification of algae protozoa and planktonic life
• Sampling

Microbiology

• Analysis of data
• Culture techniques
• Good microbiology practice
• Microscopy

Molecular Biology

• Gel electrophoresis
• PCR
• Using bacterial conjugation to illustrate the link between and organisms genotype and phenotype

Physiology

• Cardiovascular function
• Haematology – performing blood cell counts, measuring haematocrit and packed cell volume, and determining the ABO and rhesus blood groups of samples
• Lung function testing

Years 2 and 3

As you move into your second- and third-year studies, you’ll complete more complex experiments, that again vary depending on the modules you take:

Analytical Biochemistry

• Urinalysis for the investigation of clinical samples

Biomedical Microbial Products

• Screening and discovery of bioactive products

Cellular Microbiology and Virology

• Haemagglutination and haemagglutination inhibition assay
• Plaque assay

Energy and Lipid Metabolism

• Determination of total plasma cholesterol
• High-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triacylglycerol

Food Microbiology

• Food poisoning – outbreak investigation
• Meat microbiology
• Milk microbiology
• Yoghurt fermentation

Food Science

• Analysis of caffeine by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
• Chemical and physical characterisation of fats and oils
• Compositional analysis of sausage
• Determination of sugars
• Functional properties of starch

Introduction to Immunology

• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
• Flow cytometry

Microbial Communities

• Antimicrobial resistance
• Dental biofilms and quorum sensing
• Environmental biofilms

Molecular Biology and Genetics

• Casting, running and visualising a gel, then analysing results
• Genomic PCR
• RNA isolation, quantification and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

Pathology and Medicine

• Buccal smear staining and analysis using light microscopy
• Liquid-based cytology for cervical screening

You’ll have access to specialised equipment, including:

• Delsys electromyography (EMG) systems
• Dynamometers
• Force plate treadmills
• Force plates.

You’ll also get to use Optojump and Qualisys software.

Using this equipment and software, you can:

• Track isometric and isokinetic movements by attaching EMG electrodes and measuring muscle activity (including using muscle stimulus), analyse muscular power and imbalances between limbs, and predict possible injuries.
• Complete 3D motion analysis looking at walking and running gait by using infrared cameras to track movements, then analyse movement variability.
• Investigate jump performance by looking at different jump types and the effect of strength and conditioning training.
• Test muscular power by performing isokinetic and isometric movements to measure muscle function and nerve function.

You’ll get to use:

• A dry gas analyser
• A metabolic cart
• Biosen blood glucose-lactate analysers
• Douglas bags
• Monark Peak Bikes
• Servomex analysers
• Treadmills.

Using this equipment, you can:

• Complete a Wingate test to analyse the power output and the percentage drop off once maximal power is reached.
• Carry out VO₂ max and sub maximal tests to see how efficiently participants use oxygen while completing exercise.
• Calculate lactate threshold by analysing glucose and lactate levels in the blood.
• Measure O₂ and CO₂ levels of expired air and volume.

You’ll get access to a:

• Colorimeter
• Differential scanning calorimeter
• High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system
• Kjeldahl system
• pH stat
• Rheometer
• Soxhlet
• Texture analyser
• Water activity meter.

If your project involves molecular biology techniques, you may also use our Tissue Culture Lab. This has a clinical chemistry analyser you can use to analyse the levels of various metabolites in human plasma.

You’ll have access to basic molecular biology equipment, including:

• Balances
• Centrifuges
• CO₂ incubators
• Gel imagers
• Heat blocks
• Horizontal and vertical gel running equipment
• Microscopes
• PCR machines
• pH meters
• Pipettes
• Power packs
• Spectrophotometers
• Water baths.

Using this equipment, you can carry out:

• Aseptic techniques looking at handling bacterial cultures, biofilms and antimicrobial resistance
• DNA manipulation and purification, preparation of agarose gels and DNA separation
• PCR reactions using a thermal cycler
• Preparation of media and buffers, and calculations of concentrations (%, M)                  
• RNA isolation, quantification and RT-PCR
• SDS-PAGE and Western blotting for separation and detection of proteins
• The Miles and Misra method, using a spectrophotometer to measure bacterial growth
• Tissue culture technique, microscopy and transfection of cells.