Ambient and Elevated-Temperature Creep and Fatigue Testing
Within the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, there are 6 creep frames and one state-of-the-art thermomechanical testing machine capable of performing experiments at temperatures up to 1200 C and loads up to 10kN in vacuum (10-8 torr), inert gas, or air environments. The facilities are available to researchers from across campus and from outside the MSU community. Contact Carl Boehlert, boehlert@egr.msu.edu, (517) 353-3703, or visit Boehlert's Research Group site.
Biological Wet Laboratory
During 2002-2003, classrooms 2125 and 2135 (approximately 4,000 square feet) were renovated and converted to very high quality biological wet laboratory space. The adjacent classroom 2150 has been identified for renovation to laboratory space to complete the new facility. The cost for renovation was about $1.5 million. This new facility consists of wet lab space for tissue scaffold fabrication and characterization, a separate cell culture room for culture, testing and maintenance of cell lines that currently include osteoblasts, hepatocytes, neuronal cells and fibroblasts, and a separate Class 10,000 clean room, which will house equipment necessary for biomedical engineering device fabrication.
Clean, well-controlled, sterile conditions are requisite for cell and tissue culture experiments. Six separate hoods are provided in the tissue culture room for specific cultures including osteoblasts, hepatocytes, fibroblasts and neuronal cells. The Laboratory will also house equipment necessary to support the characterization of cellular function such as an HPLC, an electrokinetic sonic amplitude analyzer, plate readers, electrophoresis equipment, spectrophotometer, incubators, autoclave, centrifuges, optical and fluorescence microscopes, nitrogen storage tank for cell lines, -80ºC freezer, -20ºC freezer and refrigerators. This equipment is specialized for cell work and great care will be taken to prevent contamination. Often experiments run for several weeks and it is vital that the lab environment be controlled and monitored in order to collect long-term data. In part to protect our ability to monitor this lab, security devices were installed that will enable us to allow only necessary personnel into the lab.
Engineering faculty in collaboration with faculty from the departments of Physiology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Chemistry and Small Animal Clinical Science/Orthopedics will use these facilities for their research activities. Contact Kris Chan, krischan@egr.msu.edu, (517) 432-4530.
Composite Materials and Structures Center
The Composite Materials and Structures Center is one of the largest integrated facilities for polymer and composites research and development in a non-industrial environment. With $9 million in equipment, the facility provides processing equipment and rheological, mechanical, adhesion, and surface evaluation. The facilities are available to researchers from across campus and from outside the MSU community. Contact Lawrence Drzal, drzal@egr.msu.edu, (517) 353-7759, or visit the Composite Materials and Structures Center site.
Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction Facilities
Electron Microscopy Facilities include a scanning electron microscope and a 200kV transmission electron microscope. Microanalytical characterization is available using energy dispersive x-ray analysis while microcrystallographic analysis can be carried out using electron back scattering diffraction and/or selected area electron channeling patterns. The department also has equipment for X-Ray diffraction. The facilities are available to researchers from across campus and from outside the MSU community.For access to the facilities and/or additional information, please contact Prof. Martin Crimp at crimp@egr.msu.edu or (517) 355-0294. For more detailed information click here.
Protein Expression Laboratory
A Protein Expression Laboratory was funded by the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor. The mission is to use genetically engineered microbes to manufacture proteins needed for research. The lab has two 10-L computer controlled bioreactors and plans to add a third, 100-L bioreactor in 2003. The facilities are available to researchers from across campus and from outside the MSU community. Contact Mark Worden, worden@egr.msu.edu, (517) 353-9015, or visit the Protein Expression Laboratory site.
