Research

There are 12 well-equipped specialist laboratories at IBCH PAS, which not only support the scientific departments of IBCH PAS, but also conduct top-quality scientific research commissioned by external entities, on commercial terms or in the form of scientific cooperation, including:

• Screening, automation of biological experiments
• NMR spectroscopy - 1D and 2D NMR spectra of various nuclei (1H, 13C, 19F, 15N, 29Si, 31P, 11B, etc.)
• Mass spectra and analyzes of low molecular weight substances and proteomics
• Characterization, production and purification of recombinant proteins
• Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis of DNA and RNA and microarray research
• Cultures of cell lines and tissues

The offer of specialist laboratories of IBCH PAS includes: 

 High-throughput Screening Laboratory:

• designing reporter systems in human and plant cells,
• transformation of human and plant cell lines,
• banking of cells and tissues in liquid nitrogen,
• chemical libraries for screening,
• combinatorial optimization of bioprocesses with the use of intelligent systems,
• automation and increasing the throughput of experiments and biochemical analyzes,
• growing cell cultures in bioreactors,
• production, purification and analysis of proteins,
• statistical analysis and modeling of results.

Laboratory of NMR:

• NMR spectroscopy

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  1D and 2D NMR spectra (e.g. COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY),
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  registration of spectra (1H, 13C, 19F, 15N, 29Si, 31P, 11B, etc.),
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  measurements at various temperatures,
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  monitoring the course of the reaction,

• UV-VIS spectroscopy,
• CD spectroscopy,
• HPLC analysis,
• expertise and training.

Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry:

• Proteomic analyzes:

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  mass spectra, identification and sequence analysis of proteins and peptides,
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  SRM/MRM analyzes,
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  separation and analysis of 2DE protein preparations,
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  determination of protein accumulation level by Western Blotting.

• Analysis of low molecular weight substances:

• high-resolution mass spectra,
• chromatographic analyzes with MS detection,
• GC-MS analyzes,
• Direct Infusion ESI-MS analyzes,
• fragmentation spectra analysis.

Laboratory of Protein Engineering:

• production and purification of recombinant proteins in E. coli cells for functional and structural studies,
• physicochemical characteristics of recombinant proteins by dynamic and static light scattering (DLS and SLS) - determination of the size and molecular weight of proteins and polymers,
• determination of ligand binding parameters by isothermal calorimetric titration (ITC),
• measurements of the strength of intermolecular interactions using the micro-scale thermophoresis (MST) method,
• measurements of the strength of intermolecular interactions by means of layered interferometry (BLI),
• screening of initial crystallization conditions and optimization of conditions by vapor diffusion method,
• crystal quality tests/registration of diffraction images using a diffractometer equipped with a rotating copper anode.

Laboratory of Subcellular Structures Analyses: 

• confocal microscopy - incl. high-resolution microscopic analysis of fixed cell and tissue preparations and spheroids; live microscopic analysis of cells in real time; processing, analysis and reconstruction of microscopic images,
• real-time PCR,
• flow cytometry,
• HPLC-MS - analysis of modified nucleic acids,
• analysis of proliferation, survival and migration of eukaryotic cells in real time (xCELLigence system).

Laboratory of Genomics:

• qualitative analysis of DNA and RNA using a bioanalyzer,
• DNA fragmentation with the use of ultrasound,
• quantitative analysis of DNA and RNA using a fluorimeter,
• printing microarrays on glass plates,
• automatic hybridization of microarrays,
• microarray scanning,
• real-time PCR analysis,
• analysis using quantitative PCR in drops (droplet digital PCR system, ddPCR).

Cell and Tissue Culture Laboratory:

• cultures of cell lines and tissues,
• possibility to work with animal, plant and virus material,
• possibility to work with transgenic material,
• conducting a full experimental cycle - duplicating biological material, using it in experiments, obtaining material for further research.

Laboratory of Bioinformatics:

NGS:

• Analysis of differential gene/ transcript expression
• Assembly of genomes/transcriptomes ab initio and de novo, and their annotation
• Identification of new genes and splicing forms
• Analysis of non-coding RNAs (miRNA, piRNA, circRNA ect.)
• Identification of miRNA target sequences
• SNP/CNV identification
• Analysis of WGS, exons (Exome-Seq) and selected genes (targeted sequencing)
• De novo assembly of genomes and their annotation
• Metagenomics analyses

Structure modeling:

• Modeling 3D structures of proteins and nucleic acids; introducing modifications,
• Thermodynamic analyzes
• Docking of ligands to proteins/RNA
• RNA structure prediction from NGS data

Other:

• Data mining
• Statistical analyses
• Analysis of biological data in Python and Bioconductor (R language)

Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics:

• Qualitative/quantitative analysis of pathogens in various biological samples,
• Qualitative/quantitative analysis of antibodies in human or animal serum,
• Designing molecular tests based on PCR.

Laboratory of Animal Model Organisms:

• Nutrient media sterilization (1–10 L),
• Petri plates pouring, up to 900 plates per hour (Ø 35 mm, 60 mm, 90 mm),
• Microneedle preparation,
• Microinjections (possibility to use with C. elegans, cell nuclei and cytomplasm of adherent cells, pronucleuses of fertilized mouse oocytes, Xenopus laevis oocytes, fish embryos in early development phases).

Laboratory of Mammalian ModelOrganisms:

• training in basic techniques used in animal research,
• maintenance of mouse colonies (transgenic or wild-type),
• acquisition of embryonic material on specific developmental stage
• injections: intramuscular, intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, intracranial
• microsurgery
• transcardial perfusion, organ weighing and sampling, blood withdrawal

Laboratory of Molecular Assays:

• Opera Phenix (Perkin Elmer) High Content Screening System
• CLARIOstar Plus (BMGLabtech) multimode plate reader
• Liquid handling

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  Bravo Pipetting station (Agilent)
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  Tempest liquid handlers (Formulatrix)
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  Robotic arm (Mitsubishi)