Molecular Biology Section

Molecular Biology Section in MDRL 1 is well equipped with the following instruments:

1. Agilent AriaMx Real Time PCR
2. Conventional Thermal cycler for PCR
3. Gel electrophoresis unit
4. Analytical balance
5. Refrigerated centrifuge
6. Gel documentation system
7. Multi-scan sky spectrophotometer
8. Fridge
9. -80°C Freezer
10. Vortex machine
11. Water bath
12. Heat block

The following experiments can be performed in the MDRL 1 lab:

• Nucleic acid extraction and quantification
• Conventional PCR
• Agarose gel electrophoresis 
• Real-time PCR for gene expression, viral load, allelic discrimination, high resolution melt curve, SNP, and mutational analysis
• RFLP analysis
• ELISA studies
• Sample storage facility
• DNA, RNA, and protein estimation in various samples.

Cell Culture Research Unit 

The following equipments are available in the cell culture facility of MDRL 1.

1. Class II Biohazard Safety Cabinet
2. Nikon Ts2R-Fl Microscope
3. CO2 Incubator
4. Floid cell Imaging station
5. Centrifuge
6. Automated Cell Counter 
7. Fridge
8. Liquid Nitrogen Tank

With the ability to perform the following assays

• Tissue culture
• Revival, subculturing, and cryopreservation of cell lines.
• Primary cell culture
• Isolation, propagation, and differentiation of stem cells
• Cytotoxicity assay
• Cell migration and invasion assay
• Immunocytochemistry
• Apoptosis assay
• Cell proliferation/viability assay

Histology and Cell Biology Unit

A well-established Histology & Cell Biology lab was established in 2018 at Ziauddin University with the following equipment:

1. Nikon Ts2R-FL inverted microscope
2. Dissecting Microscope 
3. Microtome
4. Fume hood
5. Magnetic stirrer
6. Shaking water bath
7. Water bath
8. Oven
9. Hybridizer

With the capability to perform the following experiments 

• Animal dissection 
• Tissue fixation 
• Tissue processing
• Paraffin embedding 
• Thin Tissue sectioning 
• Hematoxylin and eosin staining
• Special staining
• Immunohistochemistry/ Immunocytochemistry

Bioinformatics Lab (MDRL-2) 

In the spirit of the ZU for academic excellence and expansion into new areas of research, a new bioinformatics section has been established in MDRL 2 with the following aims in mind:

• It will fulfill the need for molecular level research and development of highly-qualified manpower for ZU as it will have high configuration storage mandatory for Bioinformatics, which has now become a very important tool for next level investigations.
• It will conduct and contribute to the cutting-edge of modern research in genomics and bioinformatics, as an additional adjunct facility. 
• Currently, we launched a high configuration system.
• The analysis taken with this system is of high quality, hence would increase the chances of research article publication in high impact factor international journals. 
• The ultimate goal is to enable personalised genomics medicine to become commonplace.

Microbial Genomics (MDRL-2) 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in the scientific world has changed tremendously and since its burst, 90% of the articles published are related to SARS-CoV-2 research. Microbial Genomics played a key role in dealing with such a threatening situation, and strongly believe to make a difference in the future as well. In this demanding and changing era of open science, accessible digital and biological data is the key to the fight against challenging infectious diseases. In this regard, we took the initiative to start the active Microbial Genomics research laboratory at MDRL-2 lab, ZU, to equip ourselves to meet the challenges in the future as the infrastructure and knowledge are far more important than they were in the previous decade. 

The basic infrastructure of the Microbial Genomic section is ready, for the execution of research projects. 

The following equipments are available in the Microbial Genomic facility of MDRL 2.

1. Class II Biohazard Safety Cabinet
2. Thermal Shaking Incubator 
3. Microscope 
4. Centrifuge
5. Cold storage facility 
6. Fridge

With the ability to perform the following assays

• Microbial growth
• Transformation
• Plasmid extraction
• DNA purification
• Cell proliferation/viability assay

The mission of the Animal House facility is to facilitate animal use in research at Ziauddin University in the research areas of Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, Pathology, Anatomy, Biochemistry and  Rehabilitation Sciences.

It provides housing facilities of rats and mice for the researchers to conduct their animal related experiments in controlled environment.