Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab
The core facilities of the Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Labs are four S1 - certified molecular labs opened in August 2009 with a total of 23 bench spaces on 130m2. The labs are fully equipped for molecular analyses in genomics and proteomics and are functionally divided into
- Research Lab
- GeoBioCenterLMU & Teaching Lab
- Sample Preparation Lab
- Multi-purpose / Geomicrobiology Lab
An additional freezer room provides storage spaces for molecular samples from 4oC to -80oC.
Separate to the S1-labs is the Geldokumentation-Room plus adjacent dark room which harbors the digital gel documentation system.
The Aquarium Room is equipped with one 330 l experimental bassin, one 310 l bassin and a rack of 21 x 9 l tanks. The aquaria can be individually supplied by two independent marine water systems for a variety of manipulation experiments.
The Microscopy Room comprises several microscopic facilities, including fluorescense microscopes and dissecting binoculars.
The Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab's own Unix Cluster consists of 64 cores with 256GB RAM for computationally intensive data analyses.
Research Projects
Current projects in these labs focus on the evolution, biodiversity, systematics, genomics and biomineralization of marine invertebrates, e.g., sponges, starfish, bacterial sponge symbionts, biomineralization of soft corals, hard corals, and sponges, deep metazoan phylogenomics and the development of bioinformatic tools. The labs also provide the core facilities for the Sponge Barcoding Project (www.spongebarcoding.org) and the Sponge Genetree Server (www.spongegenetrees.org).
Contact
Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide (Head): E-Mail
Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck (Scientific laboratory manager): E-Mail
Gabriele Büttner (Technician): E-Mail
Simone Schätzle (Technician): E-Mail
