Dr. Hicks’s laboratory is located in the research wing of the new Swenson Science Building on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. In addition to research laboratories, this wing has special rooms for culturing, epifluorescence microscopy, tissue culture, work with radioisotopes, equipment rooms, cold rooms, variable temperature rooms, and a warm room. There is a support room on each floor that has an autoclave, dishwasher, and a pyrogen-free Milli-Q water system.
Dr. Hicks’s Research Laboratory (SSB 171):
Dr. Hicks's laboratory is equipped for research in the areas of microbial ecology, organic geochemistry, and molecular biology. His laboratory includes approximately 1,200 square feet for bench research. Special rooms are approved for radioisotope use and Dr. Hicks is authorized to use [3H], [14C], [32P], and [35S] under the NRC license to the University of Minnesota.
The following equipment is available: March 5C-MD submersible pump system, Fisher 142 mm stainless steel pressure filter holders, a BioSpec Products Mini-BeadBeater, BioRad dot blot apparatus, American Radiolabeled Chemicals [14C] standards, Hybaid hybridization oven, MJ Research PTC-100 thermal cycler, CBS Scientific denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) system and power supply, Zeiss Standard 16 epifluorescence microscope, and a Nikon Eclipse 80i epifluorescence microscope system with monochrome (Photometrics CoolSNAP-ES) and color (Insight Color Mosaic) digital cameras, and a Metamorph image analysis workstation.
Other equipment includes: Waters HPLC system with fluorescence and UV/VIS detectors, Mettler analytical balance, Acculab top loading balance, Sorvall RC5-C refrigerated centrifuge, Fisher Marathon 6K centrifuge, Eppendorf microcentrifuges, Savant SpeedVac evaporation system, Brinkman Buchi RE111 rotary evaporator, refrigerated incubators, freezers and refrigerators, Labline drying oven, Lab Line orbital shaker, Brinkman water baths (refrigerated and non-refrigerated), electrophoresis rigs (horizontal and vertical) and power supplies, Cole-Parmer water aspirators, Hoefer Scientific Instruments 10-place filter manifold system, Nalgene 3-place filter manifolds, Orion pH meters and probes, Tekmar Tissumizer, and a Biolog MicroStation bacterial identification system.Computers and Software: Apple MiniMac and Dell laptop microcomputers, BioNumerics gel analysis software, ARB phylogenetic analysis program, JMP-IN, MacGDE, ClustalX, Microsoft Office, and other software.
Departmental Equipment:
The Department of Biology is well equipped for microbiological, limnological, and molecular biology research. Many new pieces of research equipment were purchased when the Swenson Science Building opened in 2005. Major shared instruments include:
Rotogene RG-3000 RT-PCR Thermal Cycler
NanoDrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer
BioRad ChemiDoc XRS Gel Imaging System
BioRad Molecular Imager FX
Coy Type A Anaerobic Chamber with automatic airlock
PerkinElmer TRI-CARB 2900TR Liquid Scintillation Counter
BioRad DNA Engine Gradient PCR Thermal Cycler
Beckman-Coulter MultiSizer 3 Coulter Counter
CED Elantech FlashEA CNHS Analyzer
Shimadzu TOC-Vcsh DOC and TN Analyzer
-80°C Ultracold freezers
Biological Safety Cabinets
Beckman ultracentrifuge
Shimadzu UV-1601 Spectrophotometers
Sorvall RC-5C Refrigerated Centrifuges
Turner Fluorometer
Freeze Dryer
Combustion Furnace
Other Facilities:
The Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) of the University of Minnesota Duluth owns and operates the R/V Blue Heron, a part of the UNOLS fleet. Onboard space exists for 6 scientists (overnight) and dry and wet lab space totaling over 800 square feet in addition to 800 square feet of deck space. Equipment includes hydrographic and electromechanical winches, Knudsen Model 320/R Echo Sounder, RDI 150 kHz Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, Motion Referencing Unit, two SeaBird CTDs with fluorometer, transmissometer, altimeter, pH, dissolved oxygen, and PAR sensors, rosette with twelve 8-liter Niskin bottles, six 5-liter Niskin bottles, Multi-Beam Sonar with side scan, multi-corer, piston corer, gravity corer, plankton nets, ORE Model 168 analog side-scan sonar system, Triaxus towed vehicle with onboard SeaBird CTD, Wetlabs fluorometer and transmissometer, Focal Technologies optical plankton counter, mid-water trawl net with sonar, and a specially built van for working with radioisotopes.
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