Biological and Biomimetic Materials and Mechanics (BioMnM) Lab

Mechanical Testing

• ElectroForce 5500: Compact mechanical tester with 200 N load cell, tensile test gripper, compression platens, and customized spherical indenters for microindentation tests

• Univert S2: Uniaxial tensile tester with 200 and 20 N load cells, digital imaging, and 2D digital image correlation capability

• Mark-10: Universal tensile testing machine with a 1 kN load cell, tensile grips, compression platens, and a 3-point bending test apparatus

3D Printing

• Formlabs 3B: 3D SLA printer to print biomedical-grade materials  

• Formlabs 2: 3D SLA printer to print engineering materials

• Anycubic Kobra S1: 3D FDM printer to print polymer materials

• Tronxy Moore: Extrusion printer to print viscous materials 

Optical Imaging

• Olympus BX 53:  Upright microscope with 4-40x objectives, linear polarizers, and high intensity LED lamp

Wet Lab Equipment

• Hot plates, Digital water bath (20 to 100 °C), High precision analytical balance, 4.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, 8-quart steam sterilizer, sensor-controlled humidifiers, and convection oven.

• A microbiological Incubator (Model SCO5A, SHEL LAB) suitable for fungal cell culture and growth applications with uniform temperature (up to 60 °C) and humidity (up to 95 %) control within small error margins. The incubator also has high heat decontamination capability. 

• Vertical laminar hood flow (VLF-48-A, Air Science) with UV light for sterile transfer of cell suspension into petri-dishes.