Facilities

The Aquatic Facility supports academic research and undergraduate teaching in environmental and life sciences. The facility is used by marine and freshwater scientists at Macquarie and their collaborative partners, to conduct controlled experiments and to temporarily house marine specimens.

Visit the Seawater Facility website.

The Macquarie University Arboretum comprises all the trees and plants on campus. These trees, growing in natural and planted habitats, provide a valuable resource for teaching and research and a pleasing and relaxing environment for the enjoyment of staff, students and visitors to the university. The arboretum also provides habitat for many native birds and animals.

Visit the Arboretum website.

The Fauna Park is an 11 hectare area on the Macquarie campus. The main purpose of the Fauna Park is to provide facilities for animal-based research, particularly in animal behaviour. A wide range of organisms are housed at the Fauna Park in both indoor facilities and semi-natural outdoor enclosures. The Fauna Park is adjacent to a remnant of endangered Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest which is also used for teaching and research.

Visit the Fauna Park website.

The Chemical Analysis Facility offers CHN, CHNS, mass spectrometry and NMR. The facility hosts a wide range of high-quality modern equipment, operated and maintained by qualified personnel, and provides a comprehensive package of analytical and technical services to universities and commercial entities. All work is undertaken with speed, accuracy and a full guarantee of confidentiality.

Visit the Chemical Analysis Facility website.

The Flow Cytometry Facility maintains a range of cytometers and cell sorters that support high-throughput analyses, high-speed cell sorting and single cell genomics. Many of the instruments are configured for marine research which means that they are ideal for analyses of ultra-small particles (eg viruses), and can detect a broad range of fluorescent signals simultaneously, including Hoechst, GFP, YFP, mCherry, PE and Chlorophyll.

Visit the Flow Cytometry Facility website.

The ‘Traps’ MQ Luminescence Dating Facility was opened in 2010 and represents the only luminescence dating facility in Sydney servicing institutions in the wider metropolitan region including UTS, UNSW and UNE.

The facility contains a fully equipped wet room preparation area and dry instrument room containing two ‘Riso’ automated luminescence readers (one with single-grain capabilities and the other with a red TL setup), a low-level beta GM multicounter and two Daybreak thick-source alpha counters all within subdued red light conditions.

Visit the ‘Traps’ MQ Luminescence Dating Facility website.

The Chemical Mass Spectrometry Facility comprises of an Agilent 6130B single quadrupole mass detector coupled to an Agilent 1260 UHPLC and a Shimadzu GCMS-2010.

Visit the Chemical Mass Spectrometry Facility website.

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility comprises two spectrometers: an Avance DPX 400MHz and an Avance II 600MHz with cryoplatform.

Visit the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility website.

Macquarie University has a modern and highly sophisticated plant growth facility which includes glasshouses and growth cabinets. The facility is used for a wide range of plant experimental studies and for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in biology. Research conducted at the facility involves national and international collaborations.

Visit the Plant Growth Facility website.

The School of Natural Sciences runs a molecular analysis facility in collaboration with the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF). The facility has over 20 years of expertise, which includes providing advanced proteomic infrastructure. APAF offers proteomics services and collaboration in:

• mass spectrometry
• analytical protein chemistry
• protein arrays
• bioinformatics.

Visit the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility website.

This laboratory supports analytical and monitoring equipment associated with research and teaching in atmospheric and climate science generally, and in particular atmospheric mercury, air pollution and air quality, aerobiology, boundary layer meteorology, and urban climate.

We look at the measurement and modelling of the air-surface exchange of trace gases and particulates. We endeavour to further our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles related to these global environmental issues.

Other areas of interest include:

• trace emissions from coal combustion, with a particular emphasis on mercury
• motor vehicle emissions, particularly associated with alternate fuels and improved fuel quality
• sources and atmospheric chemistry of volatile organic compounds
• interactions between air pollutants and global climate processes.

It is not a commercial facility but supports Macquarie staff, students, HDR research and external collaborations. Contact Kaushal Tewari for further details.

Located in Lab 1 in Building EMC2, the Environmental Quality Laboratory is used primarily for the structural and elemental analysis of soils, sediments, rocks, artefacts and other materials.

The Lab also hosts three Hach spectrophotometers, soil hydraulics equipment (UMS Ksat, Darcy boxes) and a range of other equipment for materials analysis.

Visit the Environmental Quality Laboratory website.

The Microscopy Unit is widely used by students and academics for research and teaching. The Microscopy Unit contains a range of modern scientific equipment including:

• light microscopy
• electron microscopy
• confocal microscopy
• histology
• digital image capture.

Visit the Microscopy Unit website.

Analysis of DNA and RNA is now a central feature of many biological investigations. Our state-of-the-art facilities in molecular analysis, include:

• robotic workstations for high through-put assays
• an array of standard and quantitative PCR machines
• facilities for rapid phenotyping and enzymatic assays.

These facilities support projects using DNA diversity as a measure for conservation, dispersal, landscape genomics and biodiversity assessment, for understanding molecular evolution in the context of environment and ecology, and for teasing apart the fundamental cell biology of diverse systems, from bacteria to insects, marine invertebrates, mammals, and sharks among others.

The Sediment Analysis Laboratory has a range of spaces and equipment to process sediment and biological samples ready for analysis.

The Sediment Analysis Laboratory facilitates include:

• drying and weighing samples
• wet and dry sieving
• ultrasonic bath and end-over-end mixers
• chemical treatment of samples in preparation for geochemical or particle size analysis, including a fume cupboard
• a Malvern Mastersizer 3000 laser particle sizer uses laser diffraction “MIE theory” to look at particles in the 0.04 micron to 2000 micron range
• micromeritics sedigraph particle size analyser uses an X-ray sedimentation process to look at particles from 0.01micron to 30o micron
• settling tube (for sand size analysis)
• Olympus dissecting stereo-microscopes
• petrological microscope.

Also available within the Sediment Analysis Laboratory:

• a cold-storage room for wet sediment samples prior to processing
• quarantine laboratory and a AQIS approved quarantine storage room
• sample storage areas
• field equipment store.

If you wish to use the laboratory or its equipment, contact Kaushal Tewari or Associate Professor Paul Hesse.