The CNAM-Bio Center utilizes advanced equipment and infrastructure at various associated facilities, including:
Local sources of extremophile microbes at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) and Rapid City Regional Landfill
Biosynthesis, metabolic engineering and high-volume bioreactor capability in the Extremophilic Bioprcoessing facilities
Polymer and composite processing, pilot-scale manufacturing, and comprehensive polymer/composite testing equipment at the CAPE Laboratory.
Advanced analytical tools and multiscale characterization instruments in the EMES, CBE, and NanoSE facilities
Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)
CNAM-Bio researchers takes advantage of SURF, the largest and deepest underground mine in the United States. Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, this former gold mine provides unique opportunity to study deep subsurface microbiology. Although the primary function of this facility is the study of neutrino and dark matter physics, it also serves as an increasingly active research station for studying the ecological habits and interactions of deep subsurface microbes. Professor Rajesh Sani, CNAM-Bio Co-PI, and his team have identified more than 9000 separate underground organisms from SURF, 85% of which are novel. Some of the isolated mirobes are unique to the underground environment, some are the result of contamination from the surface, and others are hybrids—the result of “horizontal gene transfers.”
Extremophilic Bioprocessing Facilities
The Extremophilic Bioprocessing facilities (Sani Group) at SD Mines provides about 2000 ft2 of laboratory space, housing equipment for micrbiology and biochemical research. From working with plasmid mini preps to vectors, the labs are equipped with a comprehensive line of centrifuges, incubators, spectrophotometers, and sterilization solutions. These facitities also include fermentation bioreactors, purification equipment, electrochemical and gravitational workstations, bioinformatics software, and a range of molecular DNA research equipment. Biosafety equipment for protection of laboratory personnel is another important component of the facilties.
Processing Equipment
Centrifuges and Incubators
- High speed centrifuge (Sorvall, RC-26 plus
- Table-Top Centrifuges (Eppendorf 5810R, Sorvall T6000B)
- Beckman ultracentrifuge and nVTi90 rotor
- Water-bath incubators (Thermo Scientific)
- Multiple-temperature shaker/incubators (New Brunswick, Innova 44/44R
Sterilization, Lysis and Freezing, Bacterial Preservation/Storage, and Biosafety
- Autoclave (Consolidated Stills & Sterilizers)
- Sonicator (Kimble/Kontes)
- Freeze dry/shell system (Labcono)
- Low-temperature freezer (-80°C, Revco)
- Purifier Logic+ Class II, Type A2 Clean bench system
Fermentation Reactors and Anaerobic Processing
- Benchtop reactor (Four 1L reactor vessel)
- 40 BIFLO 510 reactor (Eppendorf)
- Custom-built 200L bioreactor
- 55-gallon Digester
- Anaerobic chambers
- Anaerobic GasPack systems
Gravitational and Electrocchemical Workstations
“Genome to Phenome” Research
Molecular DNA Research
- DNA sequencing gel electrophoresis kits and accessories
- Electrophoresis apparatus (horizontal and vertical)
- Bead-beater
- Electroporator (BioRad)
- Lyophilizer (Labcono)
- PCR thermocyclers (Perkin Elmer 480, 9070, BioRad)
- Gradient PCR (Eppendorf)
- Thermo Forma PicoReal RT PCR (Applied Biosystems)
- Nanodrop 2000CW (Thermo Scientific)
- Low-temperature freezer (-80°C, Revco)
- Foto/analyst archiver system (Fotodyne).
Protein Research
- SDS PAGE assembly (BioRad)
- Protein Purification equipment
In-silico Studies
Licensed access to several bioinformatics software, including:
- AutoDock Discovery Studio (BIOVIO)
- ClustalW & SWISS-MODEL
- Computational server (Dassault)
Composite and Polymer Engineering Laboratory (CAPE Lab)
The CAPE Lab at SD Mines has more than 12,000 ft2 of dedicated space, housing polymer processing and composites fabrication equipment capable of taking bench scale formulations to pilot level processing and large-scale testing. For example, the lab contains twin screw and single screw extruders, an injection molding machine, a thermoforming machine, a 100 ton press, a Stratasys 3D printer, thermoplastic and thermoset pre-pregging machines, a (10 ft x 4ft) high temperature/high pressure autoclave, a high-output electrospinning machine, flow-through ultrasonication equipment for high-shear mixing, and a Sonotek ultrasonic coating system. The CAPE Lab also possesses a wide range of testing and characterization equipment, including a CEAST high-energy drop-tower impact tester, Charpy/Izod impact testers, MTS load frames (up to 250kN load), extensive thermal and rheological characterization equipment, and battery assembly and testing equipment.
Processing Equipment
- Coperion Twin-Screw Extruder
- Randcastle Micro-extruder
- Haake Polylab Single Screw Extruder
- 2 Davis-Standard Single Screw Extruders
- Cincinnati Milacron Injection Molder
- Elmarco NS 500 Electrospinning Machine
- MAAC Thermoforming Machine
- K-Tron Gravimetric Feeders
- Sheer Bay Bath and Pelletizer
- Hitachi/Thermo RC6 Centrifuge
- Powder King Pulverizer
- Wabash 100 ton Press
- Carver 30 ton Presses (2)
- Waeco/Litzler Thermoset Prepreg Machine
- CAPE Thermoplastic Impregnation Machine
- JHM Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) Machine
- Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) Equipment
- Sonotek Ultrasonic Coater
- Taricco Industrial Autoclave (4’ x 8’ inside dimsensions)
- Wisconsin Walk-In Oven
- Blue M Inert Atmosphere Oven
- Muffle Furnaces (2)
- Gerber CNC Cutting Table
- Wardwell Composite Braider
- Farrell 2-Roll Mill
- Fadal VMC6030 CNC Mill
- Tri-Tech 5-axis Mill Head
- Haas CNC Lathe
- Engis Tool Polishing Set
- Tinius Olsen Model 104 IZOD Tester
- Struers Automated Sample Polisher
- Struers Automated Sample Saw
- Stratasys Fortus 400 FDM 3D Printing Machine
- FARO V3 Laser CMM w/Geomagic Software Suite
- Anode, cathode and full-cell battery assembly facility
Characterization and Testing Equipment
- MTS Load Frames (2) w/Environmental (variable temperature) Chambers (25 – 250 kN force)
- CEAST 9350 Impact Tester with higher energy option (0.6 -1800 J energy, 4.7 – 24 m/s velocity)
- Tinius Olsen Model 104 IZOD Impact Tester
- Haake Polylab Rheometer
- TA Instruments ARES G2 Rotational Rheometer
- Brookfield Rheomix Rheometer
- TA Instruments Q800 Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer
- TA Instruments Q200 TM Differential Scanning Calorimeter
- Carl Zeiss Axio-Imager M1m Motorized Microscope
- Krautkramer USN 58L Ultrasonic Flaw Detector
- Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV)
- QUV Accelerated Weathering Tester
- Arbin 136-channel galvanometer battery testing equipment
- Piezoleletric d33 measurement instrument
- Gas Pycnnometer
Engineering and Mining Experimentation Station (EMES)
The EMES is a SD Mines campus multi-user facility, containing a wide variety of characterization equipment including the following.
- SEM – Zeiss Supra40 variable pressure field-emission scanning electron micrsocope with an Oxford AZtec EDS and EBSD; Peltier-cooled (-30°C to+50°C) and heating stages (+1200°C)
- TEM – JEOL JEM-2100 LaB6 transmission electron microscope with Oxford Inca EDS
- Micro-X-ray Computed Tompography: Xradia MicroXCT-400 high-res 3D X-ray microscope with tensile/compression stage
- XRD – Rigaku Ultima-Plus X-Ray Diffractometer
- AFM and STM – Bruker MultiMode 8 Atomic Force Micrsocope and Scanning Tunneling Micrsocope
- 3D Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope – Keyence VK-X250
- Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP/MS) – Agilent model 7900
- Flame atomic absorption (FAA) spectrometer – Buck Scientific model 210VGP
- Raman and FTIR spectrometers
Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) Research Facilities
CNAM-Bio researchers have full access to the CBE reseach facitlities at SD Mines, which include a range of state-of-the art analytical insruments, processing equipment, and computational resources.
Analytical
- FT-IR spectrometer with microscope
- FT-IR spectrometer with Attenuated Total Reflection system
- Laser-Raman spectrometer
- UV-Vis spectrometer
- Gas cromatograph – HP 6890
- Interfacial force microscope
- Simutlaneous TGA and DSC thermal analysis instrument (STA) – Setaram system
Bioseparations
- AKTA Explorer FPLC Purification System
- Waters UPLC
- Zetameter size/charge analyzer
- Streaming potential analyzer
- Reverse osmosis filtration unit
- Ultrafiltration/microfiltration units
Reaction and Separation Engineering
- Combustion synthesis reactors
- SHS reactor
- Supercritical extractor
- Supercritical reactor
Computational Resources
- High Performnace Computing Cluster – 49 Nodes/568 CPUs; 2100-2600MHz processor speeds
- Software includes Accelrys, Materials Studio, VASP, LAMMPS, Towhee, Etomica, CHEMKIN, Comsol
- IBM RISC / 6000 workstation, including AspenPlus model manager, AspenPlus speedup, HYSYS (steady state and dynamic process simulator), and HSC software
Process Control
- Camile 3000 controller and data acquistion system
Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (NanoSE) Bio-Imaging Facilities
NanoSE at SD Mines has leading-edge nano-imaging capabilities. A growing focus involves the integration of imaging with materials engineering, cell biology and genetic engineering for the development next generation biomaterials. An example of a recent acquisition that is accelerating research in this area is a custom-built Lattice Light-Sheet Microscope, used under license from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jamelia Farm Research Campus.
