Facilities
The McKay Laboratory of Orthopaedic Surgery Research occupies ~15,500 square feet on the third, fourth, and fifth floors of Stemmler Hall at the University of Pennsylvania.We are excited about the major renovations that are currently underway to upgrade our facilities. Click here to view the progress.
The functional units and capabilities are:
SPECIMEN PREPARATION: This operating room-style facility is equipped to accommodate multiple procedures simultaneously, adjustable tracked operating room lights with variable light intensities, and two stainless steel operating tables. This room contains a wide range of surgical instruments and specialty power tools such as arthroscopy equipment, air drills, surgitomes, and oscillators which are fully sterilizable for use in animal surgery and 'clean' dissections. In addition, a 3-foot Envirco laminar flow tabletop clean bench (located on the 5th floor in a separate small dissection room) is available for sterile dissection and cell and tissue isolation. Sterilizing equipment for preparation of instrument packs and surgical clothing are on hand. In addition, an array of refrigerators and freezers are available for tissue storage
BIOENGINEERING: This is an electrically shielded laboratory with a triple-walled, inertial-slabbed equipment room. It is fully equipped for routine and sophisticated materials testing. The primary instrumentation consists of an Instron 8874 Biaxial (axial and torsion) Servo-hydraulic Testing Machine, an Instron 5543 Electromechanical Testing Machine, two Instron 5542 Electromechanical Testing Machines, two Instron 5848 Electromechanical MicroTesters, and an Instron ElectroPuls E3000 Fatigue Testing System. Additional instrumentation includes a planar biaxial testing machine for soft-tissue testing, a confined compression testing device, a microtorsion instrument that applies combined axial compression and torque, an adaptation unit and fixturing for shear testing using the Instron 5543 and 5542, and an Instron actuator and load cells added to the 8874 for a third axis of loading in bending orientations. These machines are custom fit with software for test control and data acquisition. A large collection of interchangeable hardware for compression, tension and bending, and maintenance of controlled environment is also available for use with these machines. A laser area measurement device that utilizes a CCD laser producing surface plots is available for measuring sample thickness within an accuracy of 0.16 microns. A large array of video and camera equipment is available including: color and black/white IEEE1394 digital cameras as well as CCD video camera backs (both NTSC and PAL formats), large variety of lenses for high magnification and wide-angle views, as well as several lens filters. These cameras can be integrated with several different types of available monitors, computers, and VCRs to record research activities. Two dissecting microscopes are also available for dissection/surgical work with magnification from 4-25.2. Illumination is via heatless fiber-optic light sources. In addition, multiple systems for capturing and analyzing digital images from various microscopes, video systems, and cameras are available (one full system per mechanical testing device). Each system includes a positioning device for precise placement of imaging equipment and/or specimens, a PC imaging station with a frame grabber capable of 30 frames/second high resolution color imaging, and multiple software tools for image analysis and display. A Leica SM2400 Sledge Microtome, equipped with a Physitemp freezing stage allows for preparation of soft tissue mechanical test samples of uniform thickness. An x-ray system is present with a five degree-of-freedom tube placement system with a generator for imaging bone and other tissues. The generator is capable of 40-125kV@25-500mA of high-frequency power. The tube has a focal spot of 0.3-1.2 mm for high-resolution imaging of small specimen areas. This system also includes a film processor for on site development of hard copy images. Lastly, a FluoroScan III with a mini c-arm that can be rotated 360° in three planes that can record digital still images or video is available. The tube has a focal spot of 0.1 mm for high-resolution imaging.
COMPUTATION: The McKay Laboratory contains more than 100 PC-based (most Pentium 4 or better) and Macintosh computers and laptops. Almost all of these computers are networked via Penn-net for access to the Internet. These computers have the capability for word processing, spreadsheets, statistical analyses, charts and presentation materials, and image analysis. In addition, there are several high performance computers which contain software for programming, data analysis, and finite element analysis (including Matlab and ABAQUS). Another set of high performance computers are used to control large equipment, acquire data, and acquire and analyze optical images. For the making of slides, one Macintosh and one Compaq computer are each connected to Montage FR2 film recorders. In addition, several printers (some networked), film recorders, slide scanners, and flatbed scanners are also available in the labs.
MACHINE SHOP: This is a small lab used for the construction and repair of experimental hardware and jigs. The area containing the metal-cutting machinery is vibration isolated from the rest of the floor. A Craftsman drill press, Dayton band saw, grinder, South Bend Lathe, and Bridgeport vertical milling machine with digital readout are located here, as is a reasonable selection of hand and power tools and related accessories.
HISTOLOGY: The histology laboratory is equipped with a Reichert-Jung PolyCut S sliding microtome for,undecacified bone samples, 2 Olympus CUT 4060 rotary microtomes, a Sorvall MT2-B ultramicrotome, a Tissue-Tek II Tissue Embedding Center, 2 Fisher Flotation Baths, 2 Fisher slide drying boxes and stain sets for H&E, immunohistochemistry & special stains. Specimens of decalcified bone specimens and soft tissues may be embedded in paraffin wax or frozen for cryosectioning. Imaging resources include a dual-head Leica BMLB Research Microscope for reviewing slides, a Meiji-Techno dissection microscope, and a Zeiss Axioskop 40 FL fluorescence microscope, a Nikon 50i microscope system with DS-FI1 color digital camera system. For advanced microstructural imaging, a Nikon Eclipse 90i microscope with motorized x-y stages, digital imaging head with epi fluorescence and advances optics for DIC, phase and bright field imaging, and quantitative Bioquant software for bone histomorphometry is available. General lab equipment includes heating stir plates, a fume hood, and a -200C freezer. A computer is connected with a scanner, and Nikon digital camera for capturing, viewing and manipulating of digital images. The computer is also used for logging and tracking of specimens and slides. Specimen logs, protocols, and histology request forms are available on the laboratory server. A Leica DMLP polarized light microscope with digital image capture/manipulation system and a Lipshaw sliding microtome are also available as are facilities for autoradiography and photomicrography. Lastly, a Shandon Citadel 2000 automatic tissue processor and a Leica HM500 cryostat are available.
BIOCHEMISTRY/BIOPHYSICS: Equipment is housed in several lab areas and in a walk-in cold room. It includes analytic and top-loading balances, an International CU-5000 low-speed centrifuge, a Beckman J2-21 high-speed refrigerated centrifuge with three rotors, a Beckman L8-70M ultracentrifuge with two rotors, sonicators, circulating water baths, several Eppendorf Thermomixers, high-speed tissue homogenizers, three microcentrifuges, a high capacity Virtis lyophilizer, a Labconco FreeZone 2.5 freeze drying system with vacuum pump, an Hitachi Model U-2000 double-beam UV-VIS scanning spectrophotometer with sample sipper, a BioRad 550 microplate reader (415, 490, and 525nm filters), two Biotek Synergy HT Multi-Detection Microplate Readers (monochrometer absorbance, luminescence, fluorescence), a Glycko FACE gel box system for disaccharide analysis, a Hoefer DyNAQuant 200 fluorometer, a Savant Speed-Vac concentrator, a conductivity meter, and a pH meter, as well as apparatus for liquid handling. A Beckman Coulter Biomek 2000 Laboratory Automation Workstation (with associated controllers) is available for high throughput liquid dispensing and mixing in 96 and 384 well plates. Three Thermo Scientific Forma 900 Series ultra-low temperature (-80oC) freezers are available for sample and specimen storage. For protein and nucleic acid analysis, equipment for polyacrylamide and agarose gel electrophoresis, densitometry, column chromatography, and fraction collecting is available. Additionally, a LI-COR Odyssey Infrared Imaging System provides rapid detection for Western Blotting, plate detection, and whole animal imaging. A designated area is used for research using radioactive isotopes. This area includes hood space, stainless steel benchtops, a Boekel hybridization oven, and a Geiger counter.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: The molecular biology laboratories contain bench space with individual work areas, and are well-equipped with fume hoods, analytical balances, pH meters, water purification systems (Millipore), low speed and high speed centrifuges (Sorvall RT-6000B; Beckman J2-HS with JA-10, JA-20, JS-13 rotors), microfuges (including a refrigerated Eppendorf microfuge), chromatography-style refrigerator, water baths. The laboratory also contains specialized work areas for radioactive isotope handling that includes water baths, hybridization incubators (Bellco), a thermal cycler, microfuge, and fume hood. Equipment for agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis includes several gel apparatus for horizontal (Hoefer, Pharmacia, and Owl) and vertical (Hoefer and BioRad) gels, DNA sequencing (Fisher), electrophoretic transfer (Hoefer and BioRad), and power supplies (Fisher, Stratagene, Hoefer). Additional equipment includes two Nanodrop ND-1000 spectrophotometers, seven thermal cyclers (MJR PTC-200, Eppendorf Mastercycler gradient, AB Veriti), an ABI 7500 Fast real-time PCR System, an ABI 7300 real-time PCR system, Eppendorf Mastercycler ep Realplex, uv/vis spectrophotometers (Pharmacia; BioRad), an electroporator (BioRad), a speed-vac concentrator, vacuum oven, gel dryer, ultra-low temperature freezers (Forma), microwave, and environmental shaking and standard incubators for bacterial cell growth. Additional equipment includes a Biotek Synergy 2 microplate luminometer with 2 injection ports for steady state and transient measurement of luminescent reporters. An adjacent room contains a uv light box (VWR), a Syngene gel documentation system, and a uv crosslinker. Additional departmental laboratory rooms contain a scintillation counter (Beckman), an ultracentrifuge (Beckman L8-70 with NVT65, SW41Ti, 70Ti rotors), a dark room for X-ray film developing, and a fluorometer (Hoefer).
TISSUE CULTURE: The tissue culture laboratory consists of six rooms-one common passage for freezer and LN2 cryovessel storage, 2 separate tissue culture rooms, one work area designated for sterile dissection, a fluorescent microscopy room, and one culture-handling room. The larger of the two culture rooms contains a total of 11 incubators, while the smaller room contains 6 additional incubators (all incubators are Forma Model #3110 or #3130 incubators with independent variable atmosphere capability as well as one water-jacketed VWR Model #2350 incubator and 2 water-jacketed Samsung incubators with automatic CO2 control. Additional equipment includes various light microscopes and slide warmers, a Thermolyne Precision 280 Series temperature-controlled water bath, a GE microwave oven, a large-capacity multipurpose refrigerated Eppendorf centrifuge Model #5810R, an Eppendorf general purpose centrifuge Model #5702, a high-capacity Steris autoclave Model #SG-120, as well as one upright refrigerator/freezer and three under-counter refrigerators. Live cell imaging can be carried out on a Nikon Diaphot 200 inverted microscope with digital picture-taking capabilities and a Nikon TS100 Eclipse inverted scope (with mercury lamp and GFP filter set) equipped with a Nikon DS-Fi1 color digital camera and controller. The culture-handling areas contain five Forma Class II A/B3 laminar flow hoods (4 four foot units, 1 six foot unit). Two liquid CO2 tanks and a Victor 1000 Liquefied Gas Automatic Switchover Manifold centrally supplies CO2 to all incubators. Also available are four 25-L and 39-L liquid nitrogen cryogenic containers for cell storage, as well as a ThermoElectron CryoPlus1 (Model #7400) electronically regulated cryogenic storage device with a dedicated liquid nitrogen tank (and additional back-up tank). The microscopy room contains a Nikon TE2000U inverted fluorescent microscope system. This microscope is outfitted with phase and DIC optics, as well as a 100W mercury lamp and standard fluorescent filter sets. A motorized shutter, a motorized z-axis, and an EZ 7Megapixel digital camera are controlled by the NIS-Elements Advanced Research software package, including modules for 4D imaging, real time deconvolution, and time lapse image acquisition. The system is completed with a dual processor workstation with two flat screen panels for image acquisition, storage, and analysis. The facility is also provided with a 4oC walk in cold room, as well as a -10oC walk in freezer room for specimen and reagent storage.