INSTRUMENTS

Toxicology
High performance liquid chromatography – High resolution mass spectrometry
High performance liquid chromatography – UV spectroscopy
Gas atmospheric pressure chromatography – High resolution mass spectrometry
Climate chamber for aging tests

Proteomics
Separation system offgel
Separation system for single- and two-dimensional electrophoresis
Image acquisition and processing systems
Flow cytometer

Axiozoom V16 (Zeiss) optical microscope that combines both stereomicroscope and confocal features. Versatile tool, suitable for many applications, for surface observation of plastics, organic materials, metals, cements, biological material adhered to materials, cell cultures.

IVIS LUMINA III (PerkinElmer) for in vivo imaging on mice, equipped with fluorescence, X-ray luminescence.

Enspire multi-plate reader (PerkinElmer) for evaluation of cytokines released following stimulation, evaluation of dye concentrations, label free assays, receptor activation studies.

Instrumentation for cell cultures: cell cultures hoods, incubators, centrifuge, bath thermostat, tissue digestion shaker, dedicated refrigerators, inverted optical microscope (Observer, Zeiss) and EVOS (life technologies), freezer -80 and nitrogen plant for cell preservation.

Station for paraffin embedding: automatic inclusor, microtome, fluorescence-equipped optical microscope (Imager, Zeiss)

The laboratory is equipped with multiple instruments ranging from UV-VIS and IR spectrum analyzers, to electronic bench instruments, a bonding machine, instrumentation for measurements of optical sizes, a thermal imaging camera, a structured light 3D scanner, a 3D printer and a bioplotter.

The bioplotter is an instrument consisting of a machine with numerical control with three axes (construction volume 150x150x140 mm and nominal accuracy in the positioning of 0.001 mm) and of 5 extrusion heads thermostatic from 0 ° C to 250 ° C, all placed at the interior of an organic hood. The instrument was created for the production of scaffolds, but thanks to its extreme flexibility, it has already been successfully used by the laboratory. MS2 not only for the printing of scaffolds in the biomedical and dental field, but also in apparently very different applications such as, for example, the production of silicone acoustic insulators and the evaluation of chocolate tempering in the industrial food production sector.

The electrospray is an instrument capable of generating nanoparticles (range 100-10’000 nm) and nanowires of known and extremely repeatable size. Moreover, thanks to the availability of a double syringe, the instrument can generate “multi-layer” nanoparticles in which it is possible to choose the size and composition of the central core, as well as the size and composition of its shell. The applications are extremely variable, ranging from drug delivery, to surface coatings, up to the possibility to generate “nano-sensors”.

The laboratory is equipped with both useful equipment in the field of polymer synthesis and instrumentation for chemical characterization. Among these we can mention the UV-VIS and IR spectrometer.

In addition to the most classic instruments, there are also innovative instrumental techniques such as electrospray.

Specifically, electrospray is a technique that allows to produce nano- and micro-polymer structures (range 100-10’000 nm) with a high repeatability. Moreover, thanks to the co-axial configuration, it is possible to generate “multi-layered” particles and fibers in which the size and composition of the central core, as well as its shell, can be varied.

The applications are ranging from drug delivery, through surface coatings, to the possibility to generate”nano-sensors”.