Tecnoviv plateform

This platform is one of the ongoing development projects of the UPVD. The establishment has identified several priority areas for scientific development, including the environment, sustainable development and renewable energy (especially solar). In the field of biology, the campus has hosted two structures involved in basic research for many years :

UMR 5096 (CNRS-UPVD) "Genome and Plant Development." The research in this laboratory is dedicated to the study of genome organization and the identification of genes and proteins that control the development and adaptation of plants to the environment and various stresses.

UMR 5244 (CNRS-UPVD) "Ecology and Evolution of Interactions." The research in this laboratory is dedicated to the study of host / parasite interactions in different models of medical and veterinary interest.

These two units have always received support from both the CNRS and the UPVD, a,nd this has been renewed for the next four-year contract (2011-2014) with an A + AERES rating. The TECNOVIV platform is initially a collection of tools shared between the two units and is divided into four areas: Molecular biology, proteomics, bioinformatics and imaging.

Although the issues and objectives of the two laboratories are quite different in terms of concepts, their methodological approaches are very close, especially in the fields of molecular biology, proteomics, bioinformatics and imaging. In this context, and for a number of years, these two UMRs have developed a policy of sharing equipment and facilities, which is currently being intensified with the implantation of the two structures on the same geographical site of the UPVD. The apparatuses are common to both teams and are part of the technical platform, "TECNOVIV."

This operation will complement and upgrade the equipment needed to resolve problems in the fields of molecular biology, proteomics, bioinformatics, and microscopy and concentrate this equipment on the same University site to rationalise and streamline its management. This not only creates a high-level technical platform at the regional level but will also promote the interest of external partners as a complement to other structures of the same type in Montpellier.

Equipment on the tecnoviv plateform :

  • Molecular Biology :

    The rapid changes in technology and scale of analyses made possible by new machines requires frequent updates. Medium and high throughput analysis by conventional and quantitative PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is now possible and the platform will, in the short term be equipped the following apparatuses.

    - Conventional PCR: a Mastercycler pro S 5 block apparatus to carry nearly 500 reactions simultaneously.

    - Quantitative PCR, updating of capacity from 96 reactions to 384.

    Optimisation of two existing machines by the purchase of an automated pipetting station (epMotion 5075 VAC 230V, Eppendorf) and a new high-performance electrophoresis system (station LabChip GX).

     

    - Two new ultra low temperature freezers to increase our storage capacity, essential to store the increasing number of samples.

    This "molecular biology" component will be completed with equipment for the culture and preparation of biological material, shared between the two UMRs involved in this platform.
  • Proteomics : Both laboratories have equipment to carry out research in this area of ​​expertise. Additional equipment will be added to the project to carry out all stages in Perpignan : from the extraction of proteins, through fractionation of extracts to image analysis to detect differences in protein content between biological samples and extraction of proteins from gels.
  • Bioinformatics :The Plant Genome and Development Laboratory (LGDP) has been involved in major plant genome projects since the first project of a French consortium in 1991 to characterize the transcriptome of the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, by an approach allowing tagging of transcribed gene (ESTs). Since then, the laboratory has participated in all the major stages of plant genomics. From 1993 to 2000, it participated in the sequencing, annotation and analysis of the Arabidopsis genome, in particular through the characterization of the ancestral duplication of the whole genome. It was then involved in the characterization of the rice genome, particularly through its participation in analysis of the transposable elements and genes encoding small RNAs (miRNA). The UMR 5244 entered the field of genomics recently through the study of host-parasite relationships, in parallel with sequencing of the genome of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni. These developments require the adaptation of our computing resources to deal with the enormous influx of data expected in the coming years, by the acquisition of a platform for bioinformatic analysis to process data from de novo sequencing , re-sequencing and "environmental" sequencing (of all species of a habitat for example). The platform consists of a 256 processor computing cluster, with 1 Tb of RAM and a storage capacity of 64 Tbytes useful.
  • Imaging : Confocal microscopy has recently emerged as an essential means of investigation in many projects, complementary to molecular biology and proteomic approaches. The TECNOVIV platform is equipped with a Zeiss LSM 700 confocal microscope with 4 lasers (405, 488, 555 and 633 nm), a fully motorized platform and a thermostated chamber. An inverted epifluorescence microscope completes the system. An assistant engineer operates this equipment.
UMR 5096 CNRS/UPVD Plant Genome and Development Laboratory




UMR 5244 CNRS/UPVD Tropical and Mediterranean Biology et Ecology.
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