Facilities & Resources

Our laboratories and facilities are contained in several buildings on campus: Arms, North Mudd, South Mudd, Robinson, Keck, and Braun. In addition, substantial research collaboration exists between geobiology faculty at Caltech and The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/. JPL, NASA's lead center for planetary exploration, is located seven miles from campus and is administered by the Institute.

• Environmental Analysis Center (ESE): An open-access, user-operated laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. The EAC is based in the Environmental Science and Engineering Program, but is open to all Caltech researchers. Analytical methods available include mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, ion chromatography, inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis. (http://ese.caltech.edu/research/eac)
• Center for Microanalysis: A new research establishment within Caltech's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences that provides hardware and expertise for microanalysis of geological, meteoritic and synthetic materials. The CMC consists of three major components: A laboratory that houses advanced instruments for in situ chemical and isotopic analysis of solids; a program of instrument and methods development grants to encourage 'in house' invention and innovation of micro-analytical techniques; and a program of graduate and postdoctoral training. (http://ccm.caltech.edu/)
• GPS Division Analytical Facility: LEO 1550 VP field emission scanning electron microscope ((SE, BSE, CL, VPSE, FSE, STEM, 3D imaging, EDS, EBSD) and JEOL JXA-8200 electron microprobe. Analytical facilities in the GPS Division are available to the campus and JPL on a fee basis. Both instrument time and operator services are available. (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/facilities/analytical/)

• Caltech High Performance Cluster: A large network of ordinary computers that work together to solve challenging problems. It is a coordinated group of server computers running the CentOS Linux 7. It is used for high-performance computing applications that range from seismology to climate models to genomic analysis. (http://www.hpc.caltech.edu/)
• Functional Genomics Center: Center develops and disseminates experimental and computational methods for functional genomics. These include RNA transcript expression (RNA-seq) from traditional samples, small pools of cells and single cells; genome-wide transcription regulatory protein occupancy (ChIP-seq of all kinds); long distance chromosomal interactions; and various assays of regulatory elements.
• Jacobs Genetics and Genomics Laboratory: Provides genomic support to the Caltech community, with an emphasis on high throughput sequencing and microarray analysis. (http://mmjggl.caltech.edu)
• Proteome Exploration Laboratory: The Proteome Exploration Laboratory provides both scientific and technical expertise and state-of-the-art high performance and ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometric instrumentation. (http://beckmaninstitute.caltech.edu/pel.shtml)
• Transmission Electron Microscopy center: Provides advice, training and access to high-end instrumentation that Caltech researchers need to perform state-of-the-art biological and/or cryogenic TEM, and seeks to further develop these technologies to better meet research objectives. (http://beckmaninstitute.caltech.edu/tem.shtml)
• Biological Imaging Facility: The BIF has 6 microscopes. Five are confocal microscopes for optical sectioning of fluorescently labeled samples. Of these, 4 are laser scanning confocal microscopes and one is a Spinning Disc confocal for high speed imaging. Three of the laser scanning confocal microscopes have multiphoton/two-photon lasers (MP, a category of nonlinear optics, NLO) which allow for deeper imaging of tissues. The sixth microscope is a wide field deconvolution microscope for high throughput fluorescence imaging. (http://beckmaninstitute.caltech.edu/birc.shtml).
• Flow Cytometry/Cell Sorting Facility: The facility is currently equipped with two cell sorters: BD FACSAria IIu cell sorter, capable of analyzing at least 9 colors utilizing 3 lasers (407nm, 488nm, & 633nm), and of carrying out 4-way sorting up to 10,000 cells per second with reliable efficiency and recovery, or 1-way sorting for single-cell cloning into various cell culture plate configurations and an iCyt Mission Technology Reflection (5-laser/9color (UV, 405, 488, 561, and 633nm) cell sorter with one Highly Automated Parallel Sorting (HAPS) module. (http://beckmaninstitute.caltech.edu/fccsf.shtml)