Laboratory for plant analytics



We are interested in the quality of plant raw materials


Teaching

We conduct numerous laboratory practicals for Bachelor's and Master's students in the field of renewable resources. In addition, we supervise students in the practical phase and in final theses during experimental work in the laboratory.

These are in particular:

  • Botanical Internship – The students carry out microscopic examinations of plant anatomy and morphology and learn the technique of thin-layer chromatography for the examination of plant pigments.
  • Internship related to plant constituents – The focus here is on getting to know analytical methods for the quantitative and qualitative determination of plant constituents. Here we work with classical wet-chemical, chromatographic and infrared spectroscopic methods.
  • Internship related to plant biotechnology - Here the students learn a variety of molecular biological techniques in the laboratory and practise the establishment and cultivation of plant in vitro cultures under the sterile workbench.
  • Internship related to ingredients of medicinal and dyeing plants – essential contents are the analysis of secondary plant substances, the preparation and evaluation of aromatograms, the distillative extraction of essential oils and hydrolates as well as the preparation and testing of own formulations.

Research

Our research focuses on the development of infrared spectroscopic methods for the prediction of value-giving ingredients in various matrices (vegetable oils, vegetable oil fuels, honey, wood pellets, plant fibres, plant drugs, etc.), the development of molecular biological methods for genotype differentiation (nettle, chestnut, etc.) with various marker techniques (RAPD, CAPS, ISSR, etc.) as well as methods for in vitro propagation of various cultivated plants (callus cultures, somatic embryogenesis, protoplast culture, etc.). In addition, we conduct batch experiments to determine the methane formation potential of various biogas substrates in our laboratory.

Interesting techniques

Botany

Our laboratory has modern and extensive microscopic equipment. In addition to numerous course microscopes, we have a high-quality laboratory microscope (brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast) with digital camera, corresponding software and other accessories. We have extensive equipment for the preparation of aromatograms and thin-layer chromatograms.

Molecular biology and plant in-vitro cultures

In our genetic S1 laboratory, the usual molecular biology techniques such as PCR, real time PCR, electrophoresis, cloning, etc. can be carried out. In addition, there are sterile workbenches, a shaking incubator and two plant cultivation cabinets for working with plant in-vitro and protoplast cultures.

Ingredient analytics

We have extensive equipment for various electrophoresis techniques (SDS-PAGE, protein fingerprints for variety diagnostics, nucleic acids), an automatic titrator for the determination of the acid and peroxide number, various mills for sample preparation, ovens for the determination of TS and oTS, a UV-VIS spectrophotometer as well as various NIR and an ATR-IR spectrometer for the qualitative and quantitative determination of various ingredients (see Laboratory for Physical Measurement Technology).

In addition, our laboratory operates a batch plant for the continuous determination of the biogas and methane formation potential of various biogas substrates with 15 batch fermenters and evaluation software.

Equipment

Botany

  • 11 course microscopes CH 20, Olympus
  • 1 laboratory microscope CX 40 including camera SC 30 with the software cell*, Olympus
  • Equipment for thin-layer chromatography including UV box, Desaga
  • Colourimeter CR-200, Konica Minolta
  • Distillery Al-Ambrik, Unicobres
  • Binocular SZ 4045, Olympus

Biotechnology

  • Thermocycler Gene Amp 9700, PE Applied Biosystems
  • Gradient thermal cycler T1, Biometra
  • Real Time PCR System Stratagene
  • Electrophoresis sub-cell GT and sub-cell GT Mini, Bio-Rad
  • Flash Gel system, Lonza
  • Various microlitre pipettes Gilson, Eppendorf
  • Centrifuge Fresco 21, Thermo Fischer
  • Block thermostat MBT 250-2, Kleinfeld Labortechnik
  • Nanodrop spectrophotometer ND-1000, Peqlab
  • PCR workstation
  • 2 sterile workbenches, biomedis and Fritz Gössner
  • Shaking incubator, GFL
  • 2 plant cultivation cabinets I-36LLVL, Percival Scientific

Ingredient analytics

  • Automatic titrator T5, Mettler-Toledo
  • Vertical electrophoresis device Mini Protean Tetra Cell, Bio-Rad
  • Gel Documentation Gel Doc EZ Imager, Bio-Rad
  • NIR spectrometer MPA, Bruker
  • ATR-IR spectrometer Tensor II, Bruker
  • Infratec Grain Analyser 1241, Foss
  • Batch biogas plant AMPTS II, Bioprocess Control
  • UV-VIS spectrophotometer PhotoLab 6600, WTW
  • Refractometer Abbemat 200, Anton Paar
  • Hand refractometer
  • Abbé refractometer, Zeiss

General information

  • Analytical balance AbJ 220-4NM, Kern
  • Analytical balance BP 221S, Sartorius
  • Top pan balance Entris 3202/-15, Sartorius
  • Drying oven UE 600, Memmert
  • Drying oven 75 UN, Memmert
  • Water baths
  • Incubator VT 5042 EK, Memmert
  • Planetary ball mill PM 100, Retsch
  • Oil mill Komet, IBG Monforts Oekotec
  • Autoclave 3870 ELV, Systec
  • Ion exchanger SG-2800 SK, LAT

The team

Research assistant

Non-Public Person