Facilities for Bryological Research

We have access to all the necessary equipment and facilities to conduct a broad range of bryological research at Duke. These include complete laboratory facilities for molecular work, growth facilities including controlled environment chambers, greenhouses, and experimental gardens, scanning and transmission electron microscopes, and of course the bryophyte herbarium and library. Some of the major facilities are briefly described below.

Duke Herbarium
The herbarium holdings at Duke include about 400,000 vascular plant specimens, including pteridophytes, and about 230,000 bryophytes. Herbarium assistance as well as bench and cabinet space are available for working on and managing loans from other herbaria. J. Shaw is the Curator of Bryophyte collection. The herbarium has an extensive collection of bryological books and a journal and reprint collection. For additional information, see Duke Bryophyte Collection.

Molecular Laboratories
All equipment necessary to perform molecular work aimed at systematic and evolutionary studies is available in the Shaw laboratory. This equipment includes: multiple thermal cyclers, microcentrifuges, -70° freezers, -20° C freezers, and -4° C refrigerators.

The Duke Biology Genetic Analysis Laboratory (GA Lab)
Housed in the Biological Sciences Building is a state-of-the-art laboratory for collecting genetic data. The lab has two ABI 3730-XL capillary sequencers capable of generating 1600 sequences out to 1130 basepairs in 24 hours. Recently, large-fragment analysis has been developed for the lab, allowing reads out to 1000 basepairs for microsatellite markers. AFLP's and microsat's are also analyzed on the 3730's out to 500 basepairs. Samples are prepared for the ABI 3730-XL's on a Beckman Biomek FX liquid-handing robot with a multi-channel head. The FX robot transfers 96 samples at once in many housekeeping tasks, including PCR cleanup, plasmid minipreps, pcr and sequencing setup, microsatellite pooling and dilutions, and dye-terminator removal. Community equipment housed and maintained in the GA Lab includes a plate centrifuge, a heated plate sealer, a dual-head gradient thermoclycer, and vacuum manifolds for PCR cleanup.

Duke Biology Plant Growth Facility (BPGF)
This facility supports the educational and research needs for Duke University faculty, affiliated researchers, and students. The facility spans 8,400 square feet that is equally divided between research and teaching. Several types of controlled growth (temperature, light and humidity) chambers are provided at a modest cost.

Computing Facilities
The Shaw Lab has access to all of the software and hardware necessary for rigorous systematic and phylogenetic analyses. Hardware includes numerous dual-processor Power Mac G4 workstations and dedicated AMD Athlon Unix servers (all with ethernet connections), laser and inkjet printers, and a flatbed scanner. Software for DNA sequence and phylogenetic analysis includes: PAUP*, MacClade, MrBayes, PHYLIP, Sequencher, and MolPhy. Software for hypothesis testing and comparative methods includes: STATVIEW, DNArates, r8s, ModelTest, Discrete, Mesquite, Multi-state, Continuous, BEAST, and HYPHY. Additional software for analyzing microsatellite data and estimating population genetic parameters are also available.

Transmission electron microscope
We also have free access to the Biology Dept. Zeiss 10A transmission electron microscope, with attached camera that utilizes Zeiss 70mm roll film. Access to two AO/Reichert Ultracut E43 microtomes is also readily available.

Scanning electron microscope
We have access to the Biology Dept. Philips ESEM with a cryo stage, a Ladd critical point drier, and a sputter coater (Hummer V). The SEM has an attached camera body that utilizes 4 x 5 Polaroid 55 P/N film and a digital frame grabber.

Morphometrics Lab
The Duke University Morphometrics Lab was setup during 1990/1991 from an NSF instrument grant awarded to H. Fred Nijhout. This laboratory is equipped with cameras (CCD color video camera, gray scale video camera, photometric tube security style video camera), 2-D Digitizers (6 SummaSketch pads), 3-D Digitizers (Polhemus 3Space digitizer, Reflex microscope), Image Analysis Software (Image-1, SigmaScan Pro, NIH image, ImagePro Plus), several light microscopes (2 Wild M5A steromicroscopes with camera lucida attachments, 1 Wild M420 Macroscope with C mount video camera attachment, 1 Zeiss Axioscop compound microscope with C mount video camero attachment), Sony TV Monitors, morphometrics related software (statistical software: NTSYSpc, SAS, and SYSTAT; morphometric software: Thin plate spline, Elliptic Fourier analysis, Procrustes, etc.), and Hewlett-Packard flatbed scanner.

Culture facilities
We have multiple laminar flow hoods available for the culture work needed for this project, as well as a Conviron growth chamber and lighted (and unlighted) racks for growing bryophytes.

Biological and Environmental Sciences Library

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 Shaw Laboratory
 139 Biological Sciences Bldg.
 Box 90338
 Department of Biology
 Duke University
 Durham
 North Carolina 27708
 U.S.A.

 Phone: (+1) 919 660-7345
 Fax: (+1) 919 660-7293