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Biotechnology Laboratory • Greenhouse or Conservatory • Vascular Plant Herbarium • Vertebrate Museum • The HSU Research Vessel • Scanning Electron Microscope • Telonicher Marine Laboratory • Transmission Electron Microscope • The stockroom
Biotechnology Laboratory and Core Facility
The Biotechnology Laboratory was remodeled with funds from the State and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The laboratory supports state-of-the-art instruction in Cell Biology, Genetics Laboratory, Immunology, and Biotechnology. Major equipment and facilities include, ultrafreezers, walk-in cold room, thermal cyclers, microplate reader, laminar flow hoods, inverted microscopes, and computers. The Core Facility houses two real time PCR machines, thermal cyclers, and an automated DNA sequencer. Students are able to produce monoclonal antibodies, construct cDNA libraries, clone genes, sequence DNA, perform quantitative PCR and produce proteins using the baculovirus expression system.
Dr. Jacob Varkey manages the laboratory, located in rooms 121 and 122 of Science B. The Core Facility is managed by Anthony Baker and is located in Science B 230.
Greenhouse or Conservatory
The greenhouse contains one of the largest teaching collections of living plants in California. It accommodates plants from 187 plant families and is used by students in introductory as well as advanced botany courses. Controlled temperatures and climatic conditions allow a variety of plants to be maintained in the rooms of this Conservatory. Mr. William Weigle is the Greenhouse Manager. The Greenhouse is easily recognizable by the large white dome at the east end.
Vascular Plant Herbarium
The Vascular Plant Herbarium is a collection of dried plant specimens kept for purposes of both teaching and research. This facility is the largest of its kind in the California State University System. It contains approximately 100,000 specimens of higher plants. This collection is available to qualified undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and visiting investigators.
Robin Bencie is the collections manager. The Vascular Plant Herbarium is located in room 161, Science D.
Vertebrate Museum
With over 15,000 specimens, the HSU Vertebrate Museum is home to one of the premier research and teaching collections of mammals, amphibians and reptiles in California. We serve as a center for field and specimen-based research and teaching in ecology, evolution and conservation of vertebrates. We provide training for students in everything from fieldwork, to museum specimen preparation, to modern genetic analyses. The Museum is also a member of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, a national organization charged with attending to stranded marine mammals, and is responsible for salvaging stranded mammals on the California coast from Shelter Cove to the Oregon border. The Vertebrate Museum is located in Science C.
Scanning Electron Microscope
The SEM makes high magnification images with a scanning electron beam and is used by faculty and advanced students in the biological sciences, geology, and natural resources to examine the surface structure of organisms and other natural objects. The SEM is located in room 108 of Science C.
Dr. Casey Lu oversees use of the instrument and each year teaches a course on Scanning Electron Microscopy.
Transmission Electron Microscope
The TEM is an instrument that generates extremely highly magnified images of small objects (such as bacteria or viruses) or of ultra-thin sections of larger material through the use of a concentrated electron beam. The conventional light microscope allows magnifications of up to about 1000x. At that point, certain inherent limitations occur and other means -- electron microscopy -- must be used to obtain higher magnifications. Magnifications of greater than 100,000x are possible.
Dr. Casey Lu is the TEM instructor and the instrument is housed in room 102 of Science C.
The HSU Research Vessel
The R/V Coral Sea is Humboldt State's marine research vessel. For nearly 40 years, Humboldt State students have gone to sea to study the ocean and its fisheries, wildlife, biology and geology. The ship is literally an outdoor classroom for our students.
The HSU Research Vessel is used by students and faculty in the several departments involved with marine science, including Oceanography, Fisheries, and Geology as well as Biological Sciences. Courses that use the vessel include Zoology 530, Benthic Ecology, and Zoology 556, Marine Mammals.
Telonicher Marine Laboratory
HSU operates the Telonicher Marine Laboratory, a teaching and research facility equipped with aquaria, water tables, and running seawater, in addition to teaching laboratories and lecture facilities. The laboratory is located on a bluff above the ocean beach in the village of Trinidad, 14 miles north of the main campus. It is used by students and faculty in Biological Sciences as well as other departments with interest in marine science, such as Oceanography, Fisheries, and Geology. Zoology 314, Invertebrate Zoology, and Biology 430, Intertidal Ecology, are taught at the Marine Laboratory.
The stockroom
If the stockroom doesn't have it, you probably don't need it.
