Cellular and Molecular Biology
The development of in vitro models based on cell culture capable of recapitulating developmental processes and disease mechanisms
What do we do?
The laboratory houses both basic instrumentation and cutting-edge cell technologies finalized to the generation of in vitro tools able to accurately emulate developmental processes and disease states, from the culture of immortalized and primary cell cultures in 2D to the culture of organoids and spheroids in 3D.
The laboratory is equipped with instruments such as laminar flow hoods, CO2 incubators, thermostat bath and benchtop centrifuges, where researchers can carry out the maintenance and manipulation of the cell cultures.
The laboratory is equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation for the automatic tissue dissociation (GentleMACS Miltenyi dissociator), for the isolation and purification of the nucleic acids from different types of biological samples (MaxWell 16 DNA purification system). Advanced systems of imaging models for reading protein gels, nucleic acid gels, chemiluminescent western blots are present to efficiently and easily capture data through the iBright Invitrogen technology. Quantitative detection of target nucleic acid sequences is possible through the QuantStudio 5 Real-Time PCR System. A multimode microplate reader with high-speed monochromator technology is present for absorbance, fluorescence and luminescence measurements (SPARK Tecan). Cellular transfection with high efficiency and viability can be performed in both in vitro adherent and suspended cells thanks to the NEPA 21 Electroporator. In vitro experiments can be conducted in various conditions such as normoxia, hypoxia and/or anoxia with the Whitley H25 Hypoxystation.