Laboratories
The Graduate Program in Physiological Sciences operates at FURG’s Carreiros Campus, linked to the Institute of Biological Sciences. Besides facilities inside the Institute, the Program also uses facilities of the Veterinary Program at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel). Professors and students of our Program use several laboratories, animal facilities (bioterium), offices, classrooms, and administrative rooms, and are provided with excellent support from administrative technicians in education at the Institute of Biological Sciences, whose majority has Master’s and Doctoral Degrees. Furthermore, professors and students of the Program use research laboratories through the access policy to Institutional Multiuser Equipment, as well as other academic departments: the laboratories of the Chemistry and Food School, and those of the Oceanography Institute, for example, a partnership that involves the detection and quantification of substances by advanced analytical methods. The Program often uses also general infrastructures of FURG, such as the library, vehicles, and vessels.
Most part of the laboratories directly used by the Program is located at the Physiological Sciences building (Block 2 of the Institute of Biological Sciences/FURG). Differently from the organizational structure of other common institutions and graduate programs, the laboratories of the Institute of Biological Sciences have a multiuser nature. These are divided by their function (designated activities) and not by professor. Consequently, professors and students of the Program have unlimited access to all laboratories and equipment. Such organization allows more interaction among students, besides avoiding duplicated structure inside the same academic department.
The main research laboratories used by the Graduate Program of Physiological Sciences are:
- Toxicological Bioassay Laboratory – For experiments with several types of contaminants in organisms, especially aquatic ones. Due to intense use by professors and students, the physical structure of this facility was expanded recently. The laboratory used to have 30 m2, and currently has 99.38 m2.
- Non-Toxicological Bioassay Laboratory – For research with living organisms, especially aquatic ones, submitted to varied experimental conditions (temperature, salinity, photoperiod, hypoxia), with no exposition to contaminants. This facility was also expanded from 25 m2 to 50 m2due to the increase in experiment demand with aquatic organisms.
- Animal Reproduction Laboratory (UFPel) –Facility at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) with an area of 187 m2, which includes rooms for manipulation and preparation of diluents and samples, instrumentation, computing, and offices; laboratory of molecular biology and kennel for animal storage.
- Neuroscience Laboratory – For behavioral experiments with Watermaze and Open Field. It is equipped with an image capture system for behavioral analysis. Linked to the laboratory, there is a stereotaxic surgery room with the necessary equipment for adequate animal manipulation and intervention. Besides the conventional rodent models, behavioral studies are also performed with fish, crustaceans, and insects.
- Cell Culture Laboratory – For maintaining and using cell culture, besides cultures established as primary, of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
- Cytology Laboratory – Equipped with many machines to enable the performance of hematological and immunological analyses, as well as in vitro experiments with cell primary cultures, with isolated tissues or organs.
- Determination Laboratory – Equipped for the most varied chemical and physiological dosages.
- Radioisotope Laboratory – Equipped with counters of gamma and beta radioactivity, Gaigercounter, refrigerator, centrifuge, and all the necessary structure for handling and analyzing radioactive samples. Hormonal and other metabolite determination and concentration are performed. This laboratory has authorization from the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEM – license no. 15368).
- Pharmacological and Toxicological Study Laboratory –For the preparation of several extracts of animal and vegetable origin, and experiments for verifying their effects.
- Molecular Biology Laboratory – For diverse techniques of molecular biology, also equipped with microinjection system for producing genetically modified models, especially fish and microalgae models, and currently has a research project for developing transgenic fruit fly lineage.
- Functional Biochemistry Laboratory – Recently organized for activities related to advanced biochemistry determination.
- Fluxometry Laboratory – Destined to cardiovascular physiology research, such as activities of rodent swimming, determination of arterial blood pressure and heart rate of rats, also determination of heart deficit and heart rate of invertebrates through Doppler fluxometer. There also is equipment for gasometer dosage, oxygraph for quantifying tissue metabolic rate, and respirometer equipment for insects and small vertebrates.
- Histology Laboratory – Equipped with two optic microscopes (CX 21 – Olympus), two microscopes with a epifluorescence module and refrigerated high resolution camera of 12.8 megapixels, one microscope with phase contrast in all objective lenses and refrigerated high resolution camera, a magnifying glass with 5-megapixel camera, a vacuum automatic processor of tissues, and a motorized rotary microtome, among other machines.
- Animal Facilities (Bioterium) – Different facilities for maintaining animal models used in studies, such as rats, mice, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, cnidarians, insects, and annelids.
Multiuser Centers
Besides the facilities at the Institute of Biological Sciences used by the Graduate Program in Physiological Sciences, FURG has two multiuser centers built with support from the CT-Infra Public Call, which had the participation of our Program in the project elaboration, and is also used by our professors and students. One of these places is the Center of Electronic Microscopy of the State Southern Zone (CEME-Sul), which in the beginning of 2011 was granted with two electronic microscopes (transmission and sweeping), and in 2013 a confocal microscope, which since 2014 is used by graduate students in several projects.
The second multiuser Center is the Physical, Chemical and Biological Analyses Center, which is in a final structuring stage and will enable analyses in different fields, thus involving knowledge and integration among diverse areas, in order to pursue cooperation among fields, departments and institutions. Currently, the main machines at this center are: an Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS)of continuous flow, a gas chromatograph with an attached spectrometer, a magnetic resonance imaging machine, and an X-ray diffractometer.