Microbiology

Facility

​The Microbiology Research Facility supports the research of marine microorganisms (microalgae, protists, flagellates, bacteria, virus) and benthic organisms (anemones and corals) that students, postdocs and researchers are currently developing in the Red Sea Research Center. Monocultures of selected microalgal and cyanobacteria strains grow in seawater inside Percival incubator chambers under strictly monitored light and temperature conditions. The Center also has more than 100 strains of bacteria and viruses, cryopreserved at 140oC, that are ready to grow when cultured again in marine agar or seawater. Anemones and corals are maintained in tanks inside incubator chambers and are fed with fresh Artemia that hatch in our installations. To ensure the water parameters are within the optimum quality range, daily checks on temperature, salinity and density are carried out on a daily basis by our technical staff. To maintain our organisms in healthy conditions, all the seawater used is sampled from the coastal Red Sea and sterilized once in our laboratory.

Accuri Flow Cytometer

The BD Accuri C6 is equipped with an argon blue laser (488 nm) that can count and distinguish between groups of marine pico-phytoplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes below 5 µm.

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FACS Canto Flow Cytometer

The FACS Canto II is an easy to use, powerful, and productive instrument that allows the counting of cells smaller than 5 µm in a water sample. It is equipped with 3 lasers (blue 488 nm, red 633 nm and violet 405 nm) that impact with each individual cell and separate them according to their fluorescent properties.

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PCR

MastercyclerⓇ nexus Eppendorf cyclers can accommodate 96-well PCR plates, 0.2 mL PCR tubes, 0.2 mL PCR tube strips and 0.5 mL PCR tubes. This flexibility allows PCR users to select the consumables that best fit their assay. QuantStudio Real Time PCR cyclers facilitate the monitoring of the PCR reaction as it progresses. With just a very small amount of nucleic acid added at the beginning, the end product can be quantified accurately.

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Incubators Chambers

The Percival Incubator Chambers are used for many different types of applications; from microbial culturing to plant germination. This instrument is equipped with The IntellusUltra Controller technology that allows control of temperature, humidity, CO2 and lighting. The IntellusUltra Web Server enables programing and monitoring the incubator from desk, laptop or phone.

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