News

Updates on the ULS Cryo-EM Centre

The ULS is pleased to announce that our Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) Centre is in the final stages of installation and testing, and will be open to users in the second half of 2023. The Centre is equipped with a collection of state-of-the-art instruments to support some of the latest techniques in structural biology, for example, single particle analysis (SPA), cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED). To support SPA, cryo-ET and other cryo-EM workflows, the ULS is also in the process of acquiring a set of top-end GPU cluster and a high-capacity data storage server. The list of equipment at the ULS Cryo-EM Centre is as follows:   ThermoFisher Krios G4 300 kV Cryo-TEM System ThermoFisher Glacios 200 kV Cryo-TEM System ThermoFisher Talos L120C 120 kV TEM System ThermoFisher Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB System GPU servers (2 units); each with 4× Nvidia A800 80 GB graphics cards Data storage server (720 TB usable storage) ThermoFisher Vitrobot Mark IV Plunge-freezing Systems (2 units) Cressington 208C High Vacuum Turbo Carbon Coater PELCO easiGlow Glow Discharge Cleaning System (2 units)   On the other hand, a symposium on biological cryo-EM will be held at the Institute for Advanced Study, HKUST, from 19th to 21st June, 2023, and is now accepting applications. Invited speakers from PolyU, other local universities, as well as renowned international scientists in the field will share their latest research and knowledge in cryo-EM with the participants. Potential users of our Cryo-EM Centre are encouraged to register for the symposium by the deadline on 9th June, 2023.   If you have any queries about the Cryo-EM Centre, equipment, or getting started in cryo-EM, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Michael Yuen or Mr Sirui Li of the ULS.   Thank you for your attention.

ULS Equipment Training Workshop: GridION Mk1 Sequencing System

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce the recent addition of GridION Mk1 long-read sequencing system from Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The new system employs nano-scale holes which detect the DNA or RNA sequence when passing through, enabling direct and real-time sequencing of short to long fragments of DNA or RNA, and also analysis of base modification like methylation.   The ULS is co-organising an introductory seminar and a 2-day training workshop with Oxford Nanopore Technologies on the GridION Mk1 system. Details are as follows:   Introductory seminar: **All are welcome** Date: 18th May 2023 (Thursday) Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM Venue: Y715   2-day training workshop: **Registration is required** MinKnow and experiment setup Practical session Kit introduction Data analysis in Epi2me Date and time: 18th May 2023 (Thursday, 11:30 AM – 5:30 PM) – 19th May 2023 (Friday, 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM) Venue: Y719   Due to experiment nature and space limitation, attendance of the workshop will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register via the following link by 16th May 2023: Registration   For enquiries, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow or Dr. Alan Leung.   Thank you very much for your attention.

ULS Newsletter (9th Issue)

The 9th issue of the ULS newsletter has been issued. Please click the image below to view it online.   In this issue, we feature the new Abberior STED Super-Resolution Microscope acquired using a CRF equipment funding put forward by the ULS, and introduce an Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing Platform which will be available in Q3 2023.   Thank you very much for your support.

ULS User and PI Survey Reports

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) has conducted surveys for users and PIs to evaluate the quality of service provided by the ULS in 2022. The surveys have ended last month and the reports are available via these links: Survey for Users, Survey for PIs. Note that in the last part of the reports you can find the ULS’s response to the respondents’ comments.   On the other hand, 20 survey participants were randomly selected to each receive 2 hours of free equipment usage for their laboratories in March, and the result has been announced on the ULS Facebook Page.   If you have any queries about the survey, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Michael Yuen. Thank you for your attention.

ULS Technology Seminar - Visualize the future of flow cytometry with BD FACSDiscover S8 Cell Sorter

You are cordially invited to attend the ULS technology seminar on BD FACSDiscoverTM S8 Cell Sorter. Details are as follows: Title: Visualize the future of flow cytometry with BD FACSDiscoverTM S8 Cell Sorter Date: 15 March 2023 (Wednesday) Time: 10:30AM - 11:30AM Speaker: Ms. Gloria Chan (Product Specialist of BD Biosciences Hong Kong) Venue: Y716 Mode of delivery: Hybrid (Face-to-face/Online via MS Teams) Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 226 222 883 714 Passcode: odhWWg   Please refer to the attached poster for further information. Should you have any enquiries, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow (email: hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk) All are welcome!

New ULS Equipment - Thermofisher Orbitrap IQ-X LC/MS

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences has acquired the Thermofisher Orbitrap IQ-X Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer (LC/MS), which is a high-resolution LC/MS specialised for small molecule analysis. This equipment is suitable for various applications involving small molecule analysis, such as metabolomics, lipidomics, environmental analysis, food analysis, etc. Please refer to the ULS website for more information of this equipment.     For training session or other inquiry, please contact Dr. So Pui-Kin (Email: bckin@polyu.edu.hk; Tel: 34008797)   Thank you very much for your attention.

ULS Online Seminar - Chromium iX Single Cell Analysis System

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce the recent addition of the 10x Genomics Chromium iX single cell analysis system.   The system employs the NEXT GEM technology to partition cells or nuclei, and each of the partitions contains a bead that is coated with a unique oligonucleotide barcode sequence and functionalized sequences to capture molecules of interest, so that all fragments or information from the same cell or nucleus share a common barcode, giving a single-cell sample for downstream reactions to create short-read sequencing libraries.   Application: Single cell gene expression Single cell ATAC (Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin) Single cell immune profiling Single cell multiome ATAC + gene expression Single cell FIXED RNA profiling The ULS is co-organising an online seminar with Biostar Technology Limited on this system. It will cover the introduction of Chromium iX, its application and technical tips.   Title: 10x single cell site-pre presentation Date: 28 Feb 2023 (Tuesday) Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Lauguage: English Venue: Online via Zoom (https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84882588956?pwd=MkI4MndBUDYwSWt0TnVzSnlad00wUT09) Meeting ID: 848 8258 8956 Passcode: 067471   All are welcome!   Should you have any enquiries, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow (email: hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk)   Thank you for your attention.

New ULS Equipment - Chromium iX Single Cell Analysis System

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce the recent addition of the 10x Genomics Chromium iX single cell analysis system. The system employs the NEXT GEM technology to partition cells or nuclei, and each of the partitions contains a bead that is coated with a unique oligonucleotide barcode sequence and functionalized sequences to capture molecules of interest, so that all fragments or information from the same cell or nucleus share a common barcode, giving a single-cell sample for downstream reactions to create short-read sequencing libraries. Please refer to the ULS webpage for further details of the equipment, and contact Dr. Ryan Chow for any enquiries and for arranging for a training. Thank you very much for your attention.

New ULS Equipment - Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences is pleased to introduce an addition of the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer.   The 2100 bioanalyzer is a well-established tool for quality control of DNA, RNA and protein samples. It employs a fully automatic chip based microfluidic technology so that samples move from the injection point to the microchannels with the minimum sample consumption and faster analysis times. The samples are then electrophoretically separated and eventually detected by their fluorescence, resulting bands and peaks for data analysis interpretation.   Features and Applications: Sample requirement as low as 1µl RNA Integrity Number (RIN) Detection range DNA: 25 – 12000bp; quantitative range of 10 pg/µL – 50 ng/µl Small RNA: 6 – 150 nt; quantitative range of 50 – 2000 pg/µl Total RNA/mRNA: 250 pg/µl – 250 ng/µl Protein: 10-250 kDa; quantitative range of 0.3 – 3000 ng/µl Analysis of DNA/RNA library and fragmented DNA QC for NGS (sizing, quantitation, integrity, etc.) Protein purity check Quantitation of low protein abundance   Please refer to the ULS website for more information of the system.   For training session or other inquiry, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow (Tel: 34008057; Email: hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk).   Thank you very much for your attention.

New ULS Equipment - Covaris ME220 Focused-ultrasonicator

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences is pleased to introduce an addition of the Covaris ME220 Focused-ultrasonicator.   The Covaris ME220 focused-ultrasonicator uses the Adaptive Focused Acoustics (AFA) technology for sample preparation. It combines the integration of proprietary high-performance control electronics, medical-grade transducers, and custom-engineered acoustical cuvettes to reproducibly convert focused high-frequency acoustic energy into mechanical force in a tightly-defined region of the sample tube. It allows a temperature-controlled, non-contact and closed vessel environment to process samples with high-power acoustic energy, and gives traceable, highest quality, reproducible results.   Features and Applications: Operating temperature programmable from +6.0 °C to +40.0 °C Sample volumes: 15µl to 1ml Batch Size: 1 to 8 samples DNA/RNA extraction for NGS Extraction of complex cell-free DNA from blood plasma Mechanical shearing of DNA/RNA/chromatin for NGS Biomarker (nucleic acids, small molecules and peptides) extraction Cell lysis (mammalian, bacterial, yeast, etc.) Tissue lysis and extraction Please refer to the ULS website for more information of the system. For training session or other inquiry, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow (Tel: 34008057; Email: hoyin.chow@polyu.edu.hk).   Thank you very much for your attention.