The Blackburn group is housed within the Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine, UCT, in BSL1 and BSL2 laboratories that are well equipped for research & training.

Our state-of-the-art facilities include:

  • High performance mass spectrometry (Thermo Q Exactive quadrupole-orbitrap MS and Thermo TSQ Vantage triple quadrupole MS; plus local access to Agilent 6530 qTOF MS and AB4800 MALDI-TOF/TOF MS)
  • Nano-LC (Dionex NCS-3500RSnano UPLC and Proxeon Easy nLC)
  • Bioinformatic analysis of data, including cluster-based data storage and processing
  • Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy
  • UV/VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy
  • Noble metal nanoparticle synthesis
  • Gene cloning & mutagenesis
  • Library creation and in vitro selection of biomolecules (including aptamers) based on function
  • Protein expression in bacterial and and insect cell cultures
  • Protein purification and enzymology
  • Laminar flow hoods and incubators for tissue culture
  • In addition, the group has access via the Centre for Proteomic & Genomic Research and other local labs to:
  • Custom protein microarraying (Genetix QArray2)
  • Automated microarray hybridisation (Tecan HS 4800) and microarray scanning (Tecan LS ReLoaded)
  • Bead array-based assays (BioRad Bioplex system)
  • High throughput genomics, including Affymetrix DNA microarrays( Affymetrix GS3000 and GeneTitan systems), high density qPCR & next generation sequencing (MiSeq & IonTorrent)
  • Confocal fluorescence microscopy
  • Flow cytometry and mass cytometry
  • Biosafety level 3 laboratories