Oak Crest Facilities & Laboratories
Our extensive facilities and instrumentation serve multiple functions within Oak Crest. They primarily allow us to complete our internal research projects and train students in advanced scientific methods, while also supporting our collaborators and clients in academia and business with contract research services.
Wet & Synthetic Chemistry
Oak Crest’s synthetic chemistry laboratory is a 1,700 ft2 facility with wet-lab bench space fully equipped for chemical synthesis. Available equipment and instrumentation includes:
- Four chemical fume hoods
- Vacuum lines for inert-atmosphere synthesis, gas-phase reactions, and sample drying
- Multiple Buchi rotary evaporators
- Vacuum Atmospheres inert atmosphere glovebox with M-Braun re-circulating purifier
- Refrigeration and freezing (4°C, 0°C, -20°C, -30°C, -80°C)
- Microwave synthesis system (Milestone FlexiWave)
- Speed-vac system (Savant)
- Custom-built prep-scale HPLC system
- Deionized water system for both 1MΩ deionized and MilliQ (>18 MΩ) water
- Liquid nitrogen, dry ice, and wet ice supply
Atmospheric & Aerosol Chemistry
The atmospheric chemistry and aerosol research facility at houses equipment and instrumentation for the generation and measurement of gas-phase and aerosol standards in the laboratory, and for the collection and analysis of environmental gas and aerosol samples in the field.
Gas-phase measurements:
- Licor LI-7000 CO2/H2O and LI-6251 CO2 analyzers
- Dasibi 1003 O3 analyzers
- Thermo Model 42 NO/NOx analyzer
- Dasibi 3008 CO analyzer
- Monitor Labs 8850 S SO2 analyzer
- SRI 310 and 8610B GC systems for field measurements
- Horiba FID analyzer for hydrocarbons
- Midac field-portable FTIR
- Unisearch LasIR LCM-03 tunable diode laser spectrometer system (CO2/CO)
- Custom non-dispersive infrared spectroscopy platform configurable for measurement of gas-phase species including CO2, CO, N2O, CH4, hydrocarbons, SF6, H2O
- Custom tunable diode-laser spectroscopy platform configurable for measurement of gas-phase species including HCN, NH3, 12/13CO2, CO, N2O, CH4, C2H2, H2O
- Annular, Coffler, and wet-effluent denuder systems for collection of trace atmospheric gases
Aerosol measurement:
- TSI Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer
- TSI 3760A Condensation Particle Counters
- TSI 3753 laser particle counter
- MOUDI and low-pressure impactors for aerosol size fractionation to < 0.05 µm diameter
- Rupprecht & Patashnick TEOM
Other equipment:
- Custom 4-gas blending system
- Licor LI-610 portable dew point generator
- Custom aerosol generation system with vibrating orifice and Collison nebulizers, diffusion dryer, condensation tower, and multi-port sampling and measurement chamber
- Portable weather station for field measurements
Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry:
- EG&G PAR 273A, 263A, and VersaStat digital potentiostats
- EG&G PAR 173 analog potentiostat with EG&G PAR 175 scan/sweep controller
- EG&G PAR 363 analog potentiostat with eDAQ Echem digital interface and software
- EG&G Model 5210 analog lock-in amplifier
- Instrument control and data acquisition software suite (LabView-based) written in-house for cyclic voltammetry and other standard electrochemical experiments, as well as rapid development of custom techniques
Chromatography
LC and LC-MS:
- Agilent 1260 HPLC with Agilent 6545 QTOF MS
- LC-MS (Ion Trap): Agilent 1100 HPLC with 1100 Trap MSD
- LC-MS/MS (four systems): Agilent 1100 HPLC with Sciex API 3000 triple-quadrupole MS, thermostated microplate autosampler; Shimadzu Prominence UFLC with Sciex API 3000 triple-quad MS; UFLCs include dual LC-20AD pumps, SIL-20AC HT autosamplers, microplate stack changer, and CTO-20 column oven (three systems)
- Two Agilent 1100 HPLCs with DAD and fluorescence detectors, microplate autosampler
- Agilent 1100-1200 Rapid-Resolution HPLC with DAD
IC:
- Two Dionex DX-500 ion-chromatography systems with conductivity, electrochemical, and absorbance detectors; Chromeleon 6.8 software; one system configured for anion and one for cation analysis
- Dionex DX-500 ion-chromatography systems with conductivity detectors (three systems); Chromeleon 6.8 software
GC and GC-MS:
- Agilent 7890 gas chromatograph with 5975C mass selective detector and thermal conductivity detector, liquid auto-sampler and headspace sampler
- HP 5890 Series II GC with HP 5972 Series mass selective detector
- HP 5890 Series II GC with FID & NPD detectors, HP 5890 Series II GC with FID & TCD detectors
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy:
- 300 MHz NMR system: Bruker Avance II with multi-nuclear probes (BBO 300SB and BH080596) and 120 position sample changer
- FTIR spectrometers: Bruker Vertex 70 & Nicolet Magna-IR 760 (10,000-500 cm-1 range, 0.125 cm-1 resolution)
- UV-visible absorption spectrometers: Cary 50Bio spectrometer with multi-sample changer, three HP 8452 diode-array spectrometers (one with OLIS SpectralWorks hardware/software upgrade and GlobalWorks kinetics analysis software), Shimadzu UV-2401 scanning spectrometer (200-820 nm).
- Hitachi FL4500 laboratory fluorescence spectrometer
- ISA SPEX Fluorolog research-grade modular fluorescence spectrometer
- Raman spectroscopy: Chromex 250is imaging spectrograph with Princeton Instruments CCD camera; ISA SPEX 0.85m spectrometer with CCD and PMT detectors; Ar+, CW Nd:YAG, and diode laser sources
- OLIS DSM 20 circular dichroism spectrometer
- Malvern Mastersizer 3000 particle sizer with liquid and powder sampling accessories
- Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZSP nanoparticle dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential instrument
- Wyatt DynaPro NanoStar nanoparticle and protein dynamic light scattering instrument
- Rigaku MiniFlex 600 X-ray diffraction spectrometer (XRD)
Laser Laboratory
The laser laboratory is equipped with numerous laser sources and detection systems for a broad range of laser-based measurements including, laser-induced fluorescence, nanosecond fluorescence lifetime and transient-absorbance spectroscopy, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, and Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy. The facility is housed in a dedicated 500 ft2 room with four optical tables.
Lasers:
- CEO diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 24 mJ, 1 kHz) with harmonic generation for 532, 355, and 266 nm
- Continuum flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 200 mJ, 50 Hz) with harmonic generation for 532, 355, and 266 nm
- Broadly-tunable OPO (420-2000 nm)
- ns-Pulsed Ti:sapphire laser
- 100 mW CW Ar+ Laser (Spectra-Physics)
- Fiber and direct pumped Nd:YAG microlasers
- Numerous diode lasers (visible), tunable diode lasers (NIR and MIR), and controllers (CW and pulsed)
Spectrometers and Detectors:
- Chromex 250is imaging spectrometer
- 0.85m Spex double monochromator
- UV, visible, and mid-IR monochromators (Czerny-Turner design)
- Intensified Gated-CCD (Andor iStar DH720) Camera
- Princeton Instruments LN2-cooled CCD detector
- PMT detector in cooled housing
- Various detectors for UV to mid-IR (photodiode, APD, PMT, InGaAs, PbSe, MCT)
Electronics:
- Signal Recovery Model 7270 DSP lock-in amplifier and EG&G Model 5210 analog lock-in amplifier
- Stanford Research SR400 Photon Counter
- Tektronix TDS5004 digital oscilloscope for data acquisition
- Spex DataScan spectrometer controller with Systemax Software
- Spiricon Beam Profile system and Newport 1835-C power meter
- Cambridge Technology closed-loop galvanometer beam scanning system
Instrumentation Development Facility
The instrumentation facility allows for development of novel instrumentation for laboratory and field-based spectroscopic measurements, medical devices, and other custom laboratory equipment and instrumentation.
- Machine shop and fabrication facility: Tormach 770M three-axis CNC milling machine for computer-controlled production of metal and plastic parts; manual Grizzly Industries vertical milling machine and horizontal lathe; Sherline miniature lathe and vertical mill (CNC equipped); Full Spectrum (80W) laser cutter for wood and plastic; 2.5D CNC router (custom design and built in-house); metals bandsaw, precision dicing saw, miniature precision drill press and large shop drill press; all standard bits, cutting tools, and accessories for metalwork. Ultimaker3 3D printer for rapid additive fabrication of prototypes and plastic parts. Two-axis laser cutter.
- Electronics Development and Fabrication: electronics assembly bench with ESD protection and monitoring, Pace ST-65 and PRC soldering workstations, Eagle schematic and board layout software package, PCB assembly (incl. surface-mount) capability, electronics test and repair lab (voltmeters, 200 MHz and 1 GHz oscilliscopes, function generators, SMT reflow-oven, and vacuum pickup tool.
- Materials Processing and Research: tube and muffle furnaces, spin-coating system, evaporative coating system.
- Software: Solidworks 3D modeling and simulation software and high performance graphics workstation for mechanical design and rendering; MeshCam, Mach4, and PathPilot CNC software; LabView Developers Suite; Optica3 optical design package.
Biomedical Research & Development Facilities
The biomedical laboratory is housed in a dedicated 1,200 sq ft laboratory, a separate pilot-scale manufacturing space (1,000 sq ft), and a 100 sq ft hard-wall class 10,000 clean room. The facility includes the following equipment.
Manufacturing Equipment
- TerraUniversal modular hardwall class 10,000 clean-room (10’ × 10’): for clean preparation of prototype biomedical devices for animal and clinical work
- Thermoplastic (Morgan Press G-55T thermoplastic injection molder) and liquid silicone (built in-house) injection molding machines for development and small-run (<100 pieces) fabrication
- Custom-designed Randcastle co-extrusion system for polymer melt blending and fabrication of polymer extrusions (filament, tube, sheet)
- Laboratory mixing extruder for development of polymer blends
- Ultrasonic welding system (Dukane iQ Servo)
- Plasma cleaner (Harrick PDC-001)
- Benchtop manual tablet press (Natoli RD10A and Globe Pharma)
- Laboratory spray dryer (Buchi B290) and nano spray dryer (Buchi B90)
- Benchtop fluidized bed coating system (Vector VFC-LAB Micro)
- Retsch ZM200 ultra centrifugal, high speed rotor mill
- FlackTek SpeedMixer DAC 150.1 FVZ-K dual asymmetric centrifugal mixer
- Cost Effective Equipment (Cee) 200X spin coating system
- Temperature programmable ovens (25-500 °C) for drying and thermal processing
- Temperature and humidity controlled stability chamber
- Orbital shaker systems
- Assembly station: Nordson adhesive delivery system, vacuum pick-up tool
- Validatable medical pouch sealer (Accu-Seal 5300-15-B)
QC Equipment
- USP Type II dissolution system, with 8-channel autosampler coupled to Cary 50Bio UV-visible absorption spectrometer
- TA Instruments Q1000 Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC)
- Brookfield DV3T cone and plate viscometer
- Stable Microsystems TA.XT Plus texture analyzer
- Mettler-Toledo Coulometric KF Titrator C20S (Karl-Fisher titration)
Micro & Molecular Biology Laboratory
The separate, dedicated microbiology, molecular biology, and tissue culture (sterile and BSL-2) laboratories have HEPA-filtered air for culture of cell lines, primary cells and tissues. Available equipment and instrumentation include:
- At least one biosafety BSL-2 laminar flow hood per lab
- Three BioRad CFX96 Touch six-channel Real-Time PCR Detection Systems
- KingFisher Flex high-throughput sample processing and purification system
- Li-Cor Odyssey Fc dual-mode Western/gel imaging system
- EMD Millipore MAGPIX R-01577135B (Luminex) multiplexing instrument for biomarker analysis and immunoassays using magnetic bead-based multi-analyte panels
- JSAN Jr. Swift flow cytometer/cell sorter (four color)
- Aquaneering zebrafish aquatic housing system
- Low-speed centrifuges for cell and biochemical applications
- Equipment for agarose and poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis, polymerase chain reaction, and recombinant DNA manipulation
- Autoclave
- Two -80°C cryogenic storage freezers
- Multiple standing and shaking incubators
- Cryostatically cooled centrifuge and microcentrifuge systems
- PCR Thermal cyclers
- Light microscopes with CCD cameras
Pathogens Core
The Pathogens Core leverages our capabilities and expertise with a variety of animal and human pathogens up to biosafety level 2+. The core primarily relies on equipment in the micro- and molecular biology facility to execute projects in pathogen isolation, quantification, therapeutics, and host-pathogen interactions.
The Pathogens Core provides Tick-Borne Pathogen Screening (TBPS) to the local public to help with the rapid detection of pathogens in ticks, specifically Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Babesia microti (babesiosis), Ehrlichia chaffeensis (human monocytic ehrlichiosis), Ehrlichia canis (most commonly affecting canines), Francisella tularensis (Tularemia) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (HGA).
Imaging Core
The following major research equipment and associated services are available in various laboratories through our Imaging Core:
Light Microscopy
- Zeiss 510-Meta NLO point scanning laser confocal microscope, including Coherent Chameleon two-photon laser system
- AMG EVOSfl inverted fluorescence and phase contrast microscope
- Epifluorescence microscopes (Olympus BX-50 and Nikon Microphot-SA) with Photometrics CoolSnap CCD cameras, Olympus BH-2 microscope with CCD camera and DIC optics, and Wild microscope with phase contrast optics
- Reichert rotary microtome, and ancillary equipment for sectioning and staining cryostat and paraffin-embedded tissue sections
Electron Microscopy
- Zeiss EM10 transmission electron microscope (TEM)
- Hitachi S-4500 Type II Cold Field Emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) detector
- Sample preparation: Leica Ultracut EM UC6 cryo-ultramicrotome, EM AFS2 freeze-substitution device, EM PACT2 high pressure freezer, Pelco Biowave Pro microwave processor, Edwards Auto 306 evaporator, Balzers critical point dryer, and additional equipment for standard microscopy tissue preparation techniques
Atomic Force Microscopy
- AFM Workshop TT-AFM atomic force microscope with 50 μm XYZ scanner in custom-built vibration isolation cabinet
- Environmental and liquid cells, with anaerobic chambers
- AFM Workshop TT-AFM on vibration isolation optical table for development of hybrid AFM-optical spectroscopy imaging techniques
Startup Incubator
MOST-IP is a collaboration between the Oak Crest Institute of Science (OCIS), the City of Monrovia and Newton World Enterprises LLC, supported by an i6 challenge grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. MOST-IP is dedicated to facilitating scientific innovation that would otherwise go untapped due to missing integration between incubation space, scientific instrumentation & expertise, and business support. By providing these solutions, MOST-IP lowers the risks and the costs of early-stage technology development:
- Use of designated and customizable lab space and common space (conference room and office space)
- access to shared equipment and instruments in common space (incl. fume hoods)
- Access to OCIS laboratory facilities & services: “plug and play” R&D services without without the need of additional space or staff
- Expertise in research, grants writing and management, and regulatory: “plug and play” business services without the need of additional staff
- strong local support network with the City of Monrovia, MADIA Tech Launch and the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce
- Group purchasing & other benefits through SoCalBio
- established collaborations with SBDCs and SCORE