News

ULS Newsletter (10th Issue)

The 10th issue of the ULS newsletter has been issued. Please click the image below to view it online.   In this issue, we feature our newly established Cryo-Electron Microscopy Centre and offer a brief introduction of the cryo-EM technique.   Thank you for your support. May we wish you a joyful holiday and a prosperous new year ahead.

ULS Seminar - Seahorse Real-time Cell Metabolic Analysis

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is co-organizing a seminar on the Seahorse Real-Time Cell Metabolic Analysis with Bio-Gene. With this platform, key cellular energy metabolic pathway, such as mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis, can be analyzed in real time in live cultured cells, ex-vivo samples or small organisms. For more information about the Seahorse system at ULS, please visit here.   The details of the upcoming seminar are as follow:   Title: Agilent Seahorse – Cell Metabolism Analysis   Date: 14th November 2023 (Tuesday)   Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm   Location: Z407   Speaker: Dr Xiaodong Gong, product application manager of Agilent Cell Analysis Department   Rundown: (1) Seahorse Technology (2) Seahorse Analyzers (3) Seahorse commonly use reagent kits and new kit introduction (4) Application and Sharing   Should you have any enquiries, please contact Dr. Ryan Chow.   All are welcome!   Thank you for your attention.  

New ULS Equipment - Promethion Metabolic Cage System (8 cages)

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce that the newly acquired set of Promethion Metabolic Cage System (8 cages) is open for booking.   The Promethion Metabolic Cage System allows researchers to simultaneously measure different metabolic parameters in mice, such as indirect calorimetry, energy intake, and locomotion activities, in a noninvasive and automated manner. With the new set of 8 cages, researchers now have the flexibility to use a total of 16 cages in the same set of experiment, or to carry out 2 sets of independent experiments simultaneously.   If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Alan Leung or Dr. Rachel Li.   Thank you for your attention.

Illumina x ULS Seminar: Multiomics NGS Technologies

You are cordially invited to attend the joint seminar co-organised by Illumina and the University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) about the latest advancement in Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). In this seminar, Illumina will demonstrate different NGS methods and applications across genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics. The details of the seminar are as follows:   Date: 11 October, 2023   Venue: Y306, Lee Shau Kee Building (Block Y)   Rundown: 10:30 – 11:00: Multiomics – An Overview of Useful Methods and Applications   11:00 – 11:15: Q&A   11:15 – 11:45: Illumina DRAGEN Bio-IT platform: Analysis Pipeline Overview   11:45 – 12:00: Q&A   Due to limited seats, registration will be on first-come-first-serve basis. Please register via this link (https://www.polyu.edu.hk/pfs2/index.php/658847?lang=en) by 10 October, 2023. For any inquiries, please contact Dr. Ryan CHOW.    All are Welcome.   Thank you very much for your attention.

New ULS Equipment - ThermoFisher Krios G4 300 kV Cryo-TEM System

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is excited to announce that our ThermoFisher Krios G4 300 kV Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope (Cryo-TEM) is now open to users. The Krios G4 is a highly stable 300 kV cryo-TEM platform with the Selectris energy filter that allows researchers to examine biological specimens at near-atomic resolution. As the final and most crucial step in the cryo-EM workflow, the Krios G4 enables data collection for subsequent structural analysis of challenging biological targets, such as large complexes, flexible species and membrane proteins, as well as cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) analysis for determination of 3D biological structures in their near-native states. The exceptionally high performance of the system will substantially improve and accelerate data collection, and as a result the development of potential therapeutics.   If you have any enquiries about the Krios G4 300 kV Cryo-TEM or the cryo-EM technique, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Sirui Li or Dr Harvey Chan of the ULS.   Thank you for your attention. May we wish you a delightful mid-autumn festival.

ULS Equipment Upgrade - Abberior STED Super-resolution Microcsope

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce that our Abberior STED Super-resolution Microscope has completed an upgrade in Germany and is now re-open to users. The new MATRIX detector on our STED system is an array-type avalanche photodiode detector (APD) consisting of more than 20 single-photon-counting APDs in a hexagonal arrangement. The array of APDs can simultaneously image the sample from different angles, and identify and subtract background signals in STED images using physical principles instead of image postprocessing, substantially improving the sign-to-noise ratio.   In addition, the new detector will enable researchers to perform fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) in combination with STED (i.e., STED-FLIM) or confocal microscopy. These would make the STED system the most powerful and versatile fluorescence microscope the ULS has to offer.   If you have any enquiries about the STED system, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Michael Yuen.   Thank you for your attention.

New ULS Service – Next-Generation Sequencing Run Service

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce the launch of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) run service at PolyU.   Two Illumina NGS systems, MiSeq and NextSeq 2000, have recently been installed at the ULS. They employ the sequencing by synthesis technology to perform the run, which greatly reduces the sequencing time and maximizes data output. The 2 systems support data output from 540 Mb to 360 Gb, facilitating studies ranging from RNA sequencing, single-cell profiling to whole genome sequencing.   For more information about the NGS run service, please visit our NGS website.   If you have any inquiries about the service, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Ryan Chow or Dr Alan Leung of the ULS.   Thank you for your attention.

Mass Spectrometry Joint Seminar (ULS & UCEA): Latest mass spectrometry technologies in food, environmental and life science research (12-Sep-2023)

I am pleased to invite you to a joint seminar held by University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS), University Research Facility in Chemical and Environmental Analysis (UCEA),  and ThermoFisher Scientific about the latest mass spectrometry technologies in food,  environmental and life science research.    ThermoFisher Scientific is a major vendor for mass spectrometer instruments. Their trademarked "Orbitrap" mass spectrometers are well-known for their benchmarking-high mass resolution, mass accuracy and sensitivity as well as their excellent performance in various applications including proteomics, metabolomics, food analysis and environmental analysis, etc. In this seminar, experts from ThermoFisher will introduce their latest Liquid chromatography/Orbitrap mass spectrometer and Gas chromatography/Orbitrap mass spectrometers in two separated talks respectively. The details of the seminar are as follows:     Date: 12-Sept-2023 (Tuesday) Venue: Room Y715-716, Lee Shau Kee Building (Core Y) Rundown: 14:15 – 14:30: Registration 14:30 – 15:00: Seminar 1: An evolutionary Liquid chromatography/Orbitrap mass spectrometer for proteomics and native protein analysis 15:00 – 15:10: Break session 15:10 – 15:40: Seminar 2: Latest Gas chromatography/Orbitrap solutions for metabolomic, food, and environmental analysis   Due to limited seats, registration will be on first-come-first-serve basis. If you are interested in this joint seminar, please send your (1) full name,  (2) department, and (3) research group information (PI) to Dr. So Pui-Kin (pui-kin.so@polyu.edu.hk) or Dr. Tse Pui-Kam Sirius (pktse@polyu.edu.hk) by this Friday (08-Sept-2023).

New ULS Equipment - ThermoFisher Glacios 200 kV Cryo-electron Microscope

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is excited to announce that the ThermoFisher Glacios 200 kV Cryo-electron Microscope (Cryo-EM) is open to users. The Glacios system is equipped with the latest Falcon 4i direct electron detector, which delivers higher image quality and shorter total image acquisition time than previous models. The system is an essential piece of equipment for the whole cryo-EM workflow, as it allows researchers to verify sample quality with regard to the biochemistry and vitrification. Applications of the Glacios system include single-particle analysis (SPA), micro-electron diffraction (MicroED), and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) workflows.   In addition, two sets of ThermoFisher Vitrobot Plunge-freezing Systems are also available to support sample vitrification for subsequent cryo-EM and cryo-ET workflows.   If you have any inquiries about the Glacios 200 kV Cryo-EM or the Vitrobot Plunge-freezing Systems, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Sirui Li or Dr Harvey Chan of the ULS.   Thank you for your attention.

New ULS equipment - Bruker Minispec LF90II Body Composition Analyser

The University Research Facility in Life Sciences (ULS) is pleased to announce that the Bruker Minispec LF90II Body Composition Analyser is now available for booking. It allows rapid in vivo measurements of lean tissue, body fat, and body fluid in live rodents or other samples (e.g. biopsy; food).    For training session or other enquiries, please contact Dr. Rachel Li or Dr. Eva Lau.    Thank you for your attention.