Lab & Equipment Access

This facility contains a set of Class 2 analytical labs arranged specifically for molecular biology and microbiological culturing.

We keep our preparation lab amplicon-free, and it’s set up so you can perform DNA and RNA extractions of environmental samples.

We also have a general microbiology and molecular lab with a range of equipment, from safety cabinets to qPCR machines and a MiSeq desktop sequencer, as well as multiple water baths, incubators, fridges and freezers (including a -80°C freezer).

Our calibration lab is a temperature-controlled space that’s split into two parts: a small work area, and a larger space dedicated to calibration.

The latter comes with the equipment necessary for high-quality temperature, salinity and pressure calibrations. The former is a more flexible space where sensor construction, testing and data reviews are undertaken. Both areas have a sink with a supply of seawater in the calibration space.

Key equipment includes:

• A Guildline Portasal
• Fluke seawater calibration baths
• A Guildline 5010 seawater calibration bath
• A gallium temperature reference
• A mercury triple-point reference
• A water triple-point reference
• A Budenburg dead weight tester
• A highly accurate and stable (± 2 mK) plain water calibration bath
• A soldering station
• A work desk

Our Rock Physics Laboratory (RPL) is designed for experimental studies concerning geophysical phenomena in marine sediments and rocks.

Research undertaken here aims to further our understanding of the fundamental interactions between sediment and rock properties and their elastic and electrical properties.

Key equipment includes:

• Core plug rigs (50mm diameter)
  Four 50mm core plug, high-pressure (max 60MPa) testing rigs designed to measure frequency-dependent P- and S-wave velocity and attenuation (0.1-1.0 MHz), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Electrical Resistivity Anistrophy (ERA). The rigs are temperature-controlled (-10°C to 50°C), and can inject a range of pore fluids (air, water, brine, oil, methane, CO₂ and mixed phase). They can also measure sample strain and in-situ absolute and relative permeability using various steady-state and transient methods
• An impedance tube (70mm diameter)
  This tube accurately measures P-wave velocity and attenuation over the frequency range of many sonic logging tools (1-10 kHz). The 5m long tube can accommodate 70mm-diameter samples of hard or soft sediment up to 1m in length. It’s also instrumented with our ERT and ERA systems, and is temperature- (0-50°C) and pressure-controlled (0-60MPa), enabling a wide variety of experiments to be performed, e.g. gas hydrate and carbon capture and storage (CCS) studies

Our cutting-edge testing facilities include pressure vessels and environmental chambers, and enable the testing of all types of marine autonomous vehicles.

Key equipment includes:

• Freshwater and saltwater ballasting tanks
• An environmental test chamber with shaker
• A salt spray test chamber
• A Coordinate Measuring Machine room
• A battery testing facility
• A calibration laboratory
• An aerial mast for communication
• A waterfront launching capability

It also includes two hyperbaric pressure testing facilities and an immersion test tank.

Pressure Test Tank PV1:

• 952.5mm diameter × 1206.6mm depth
• PC-controlled with hard copy and online reports available
• Working pressure up to 680 bar
• The main lid has three entry/exit ports for monitoring equipment during tests

Pressure Test Tank PV2:

• 304.8mm diameter × 889mm depth
• Manual system
• Working pressure up to 680 bar
• The lid has a single entry/exit point

Immersion Tank:

• 5m × 4m × 4m
• A crane allows larger items and equipment to be inserted to and extracted from the tank
• Windows in the side allow for inspection of submerged items
• Facilities exist for acoustic measurement, e.g. circle diagram plotting for transducers