The Culture Lab is equipped with two low-temperature incubators (Percival LT-36VL and E-36VL) and two refrigerators to grow various types of algae under different light conditions and temperatures, including UV-A and UV-B.

Cultures can also be grown on an orbital shaker that can be placed inside the incubator.

Both the LT-36VL and the E-36VL have a white light intensity of up to 1,450 µmol/m-2/s-1, a UV-A light intensity of up to 40 W/m², and a UV-B light intensity of up to 1 W/m². All …

Microorganisms interact with their environment as they produce and and consume dissolved compounds that will therefore become depleted or enriched in their surrounding, mainly in the pore water. Analysis of dissolved compounds is therefore a prerequisite for understanding microbial activity in geologic settings. Another major focus of our work in on direct detection of microbial turnover via the use of radioisotopes as those offer unsurpassed sensitivity. As microbial abundance and activity …

Our Microbiology Laboratories are used for the enrichment, isolation, and characterization of novel microorganisms, including both aerobic and anaerobic species. We conduct phylogenetic and physiological analyses to describe new strains and assess their metabolic potential. Additionally, we perform physiological growth experiments under diverse environmental conditions, including extreme stress factors. Our research includes studies on microbial adaptation to desert environments (hot and …

This lab is dedicated for carrying out various microbial techniques in a sterile environment. These include the isolation of fungi on agar media from soil samples, the purification of DNA from microbial cultures and soil samples, and setting up of soil microcosm experiments. Sterile conditions are created by the laminar flow workbench, the use of sterile disposable instruments (e.g., inoculation loops, pipette tips) and by sterilizing surfaces with 70% ethanol and/or isopropanol solutions. The …