The Mineral Separation laboratory is designed for performing chemical cleaning and purification of minerals. The fume hood in the lab is suitable for using hydrofluoric acid, in addition to other more commonly used acids. Four hot-dog rollers that sit within an acid cabinet can be used to continuously roll up to 24 one-liter sample bottles.

The Omics Lab is currently equipped with all facilities to carry out DNA extractions, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and gel electrophoresis. Current research includes the biodiversity and functions of cryophilic microbiomes with the focus on snow and ice algal communities.
The main equipment is a low temperature chamber. The environmental chamber (Percival LT-36VL) allows to perform incubation at set chosen environmental parameters, or following a program set by the user, with the …

The sediment processing laboratory is a space for preparing marine and non-marine sedimentary samples for microscopy and other analyses, which require individual components or fabric specific analysis (e.g., Mass Spectrometry, trace metals, isotope studies…). Preparation methods include separating and picking of biogenic particles, thin section dying techniques, sieving for granulometry, and creating smear slides and acetate peels.

Soil samples collected in the study area are placed in a plastic bag on site, sealed and labelled with a unique sample label. After sample storage, some pre-treatments have to be carried out before the physico-chemical investigation. Pre-treatment includes sample splitting, drying, sieving (< 2 mm for fine soil, see Soil Laboratory - Particle Size Analysis) and digestion. The sample is divided by a riffle divider or by quartering to the desired quantity. The samples are either dried in air …