Core Research Facilities

At TBSI, our mission is to advance fundamental discoveries in biomedical research. We provide an innovative and interdisciplinary environment that drives scientific breakthroughs of significant biomedical importance, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care.

Since opening our doors in 2011, TBSI has grown to include over 700 researchers working collaboratively on discoveries that directly impact human health. Our multi-disciplinary teams focus on addressing critical challenges in areas such as cancer, asthma, Type 2 diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, infectious diseases like hepatitis C, and motor neuron disease.

Building and Infrastructure

Total Space: 35,000m², with 21,000m² dedicated to laboratory and research space.
Containment Facilities:

2 Containment Level 3 cleanrooms.
4 Containment Level 2 cleanrooms.
25 Tissue Culture Laboratories.

Phlebotomy Room

Please contact tbsiadmin@tcd.ie if you wish to book the Phlebotomy Room.

Containment Level 3 Facility

Research Focus: HCV and HIV infection models, innate signaling pathways, and disease progression markers.
Equipment:

Biosafety cabinets.
Autoclaves.
Incubators.
Centrifuges.
Vapourized hydrogen peroxide sanitization systems.

Comparative Medicine Unit

Capabilities:

Preclinical drug development.
Transgenic lines (importation, rederivation, cryopreservation).
Highly immunocompromised and germ-free animal handling.

Facilities:

1,700m² animal holding area.
CATII unit (infection studies).
In vivo imager (Biospace Lab PhotonIMAGER RT).
Behavioural rooms.
Intravital microscope (Olympus FV1000MPE-BX61WI with Coherent Chameleon Vision II laser system).

Histochemistry Facility: Dedicated for downstream tissue analysis.

Structural Biology

Research Groups: Caffrey, Khan, Mok.
Key Areas: Protein engineering, expression, purification, spectroscopy.
Instrumentation:

X-Ray Crystallography (Rigaku systems, Bruker Kappa APEX DUO).
NMR Spectroscopy (800MHz, 600MHz, 400MHz spectrometers).
Protein interaction tools (e.g., calorimetry, SPR, stop-flow fluorescence).
High-throughput robotics for crystallization.
Membrane protein crystallization technology.
Computational resources.

Microscopy and Imaging

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM):

JEOL 1400 TEM.
Microtomes and Cryo Microtome.

Confocal Microscopy:

Leica SP8 Gated STED and SP8 Confocal.
Olympus IX81, FV1000, BX51 microscopes.
Andor Spinning Disk microscope.

Polarizing Microscopy:

Nikon Eclipse E400.

Flow Cytometry

Analyzers:

BD FACSAria Fusion.
BD FACSCanto II.
BD LSRFortessa.
Beckman Coulter CyAn ADP.
BD Accuri C6.
BD FACSCalibur.

Additional Equipment:

Luna Cell Counter.
Partec Cyscope fluorescence microscope.
In vivo fluorescence and luminescence imager.

Mass Spectrometry

Systems:

Bruker micrOTOF-Q III ESI-TOF.
Dionex systems for separation and analysis.

Advanced Tools and Platforms

3D Bio-Printing:

RegenHU 3D Discovery Bio-Printer.

Seahorse XF24-3 Extracellular Flux Analyzer:

Real-time cellular metabolism profiling.

Protein Purification:

AKTAbasic coupled to MALS.

Protein Interaction Analysis:

Biacore X-100, NanoStar, PiStar.

Calorimetry:

ITC200 for protein-protein interactions.

Instrumentation Overview

Specialization Areas:

Recombinant protein production.
Transgenic studies.
Biological imaging (confocal, electron microscopy).
Structural studies of large biological molecules (e.g., X-ray, NMR).