Facilities

Bio-analytical Research Facility

• High performance Liquid Chromatography system (HPLC)
• Prep-HPLC system with DAD and ELSD detection
• Column chromatography facilities,
• Flash Chromatography
• Capillary Electrophoresis
• Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry system
• UV-spectrophotometer
• Equipment for isolating and extracting bio-active molecules
  • (vibra-mixer, sonicator, ultra-centrifuge
  • sample concentrator, multi-tube vortexer),
• Colour analysis facilities
  • (Hunter-Lab and Minolta Colorimeters)
• Accelerated Solvent Extraction System,
• 500 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resolution Resonance Facility
• Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer,
• Microtitre Plate Reader
• Barricuand processing unit
• High-pressure processing unit

Food Industry Development / Innovation Unit

Embraces large processing area plus

• 2 incubation units
• test kitchen and sensory kitchen / 8 sensory booths
• Test bakery

Meat Industrial Development Unit

Embraces a veterinary approved abattoir;

• boning halls, chillers, freezers
• cooked meats facility with high and low care areas

Food Chemistry and Technology

• Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry
• High Performance Liquid Chromatography
• Gas Chromatography
• Near & Mid Infra-red Reflectance Spectroscopy

Mill room

• Buhler mill
• Labofix grain cleaner
• Laboratory homogenizing unit
• A range of laboratory scale mills

Dough rheology laboratory

• Brabender moisture ovens
• Flour analysis: Farinograph, extensograph, rapid visco analyser, lab on a chip Bioanalyser
• Dough analysis: Rheofermentometer, fundamental rheometer, alveograph
• Baked product analysis – C-Cell image analysis, tristmulus colourmeters, NIR, texture analyser

Genomics laboratory

• equipment for DNA and RNA isolation and qualitative analysis,
• realtime PCR, cDNA
• microarray analysis,
• chip-based capillary electrophoresis (Agilent 2100 Bioanalyser)

Proteomics laboratory

Instrumentation to analyse proteins and post mortem proteolysis patterns in relation to meat quality.

• Ettan IPHphor 3 Isoelectric Focusing Unit,
• Ettan Dalt Twelve system,
• Protean plus Dodeca Cell and GS-800 Densitometer.

Food Safety – Microbiological

• Class 2 Microbiology Laboratories
• Class 3 Containment Laboratory
• Molecular Microbiology Laboratory
• Conventional and Real Time PCR
• Pulsed field gel electrophoresis
• Anaerobic and mixed atmosphere incubation cabinets
• Bionumerics software
• Risk modelling software
• Immersed heating coil apparatus

Food Safety – Chemical Contaminants

• Laboratories for veterinary drug and specified feed additive testing in foods of animal origin.
• Quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometer (Q-ToF)
• Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)
• Surface plasmon resonance biosensor (SPR)
• Gas chromatography- electron capture detector (GC-ECD)