Dr. Sun’s laboratory (Biosciences 3.200) is a part of a shared laboratory space that is total ~3000 sq. ft. (including a walk-in refrigerator) shared by three laboratories, which is meant to promote collaboration. The working space dedicated solely to Dr. Sun’s laboratory comprises ~1000 sq. ft. with enough space at the bench to seat up to 12 personnel. Dr. Sun’s lab also contains two side rooms, where major equipment is placed.
Dr. Sun’s laboratory is designed for research in bacterial pathogenesis, primarily using the technologies of protein chemistry, structural biology and cell biology. The major equipment includes: an AKTA Prime FPLC for automated protein purification; a K2 Multifrequency Cross-Correlation Phase and Modulation Fluoremeter (ISS) for both steady-state and life-time fluorescence measurement; a miniDAWN TREOS three-angle light scattering detector coupled with a Optilab TrEX differential refractive index detector (Wyatt Technology, www.wyatt.com) for precise determination of molecular mass and size; a refrigerated benchtop microcentrifuge and a refrigerated swing-rotor centrifuge; low temperature incubators; CO2 incubators; biosafety cabinet; Floid fluorescent cell working station, etc.. In the staff/postdoc room outside the lab space, we have a Linux workstation for data processing that is needed in computational structural biology.
Dr. Sun’s lab is adjacent to and have free access to the core facility of the NIH-funded Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC) (http://science.utep.edu/bbrc/), which include the DNA Analytic Core, Analytic Cytology Core, Biomolecule Analysis Core, Cell Culture and High Throughput Screening Core, Statistical Consulting Lab, Bioinformatics Computing Lab. These BBRC cores and labs maintain a state-of-the-art facility and provide excellent resources and service for the needs of biomedical research at UTEP.