The Department of Biological Sciences occupies offices
and laboratories in the 10-story Johnson Science Tower
and the three story Walker Science Building.
Well-equipped laboratories provide facilities for
research in molecular, cellular, organismal and
ecological fields of study.
- Biology Collections
Ichthyological and botanical collections are housed
in Vann Hall on the north side of campus off West
4th Street. The University's Museum of Ichthyology
houses one of the largest fish collections in the
Southeast region with nearly 500,000 specimens
representing approximately 600 species. The
collection emphasizes freshwater species from
Mississippi, with holdings from all 10 drainages,
coastal estuarine and marine species, particularly
from Horn Island, a barrier island off the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our Herbarium emphasizes
research and teaching collections of vascular plants
from Mississippi and other southeastern states.
- Modern, state-of-the-art
transmission and scanning electron microscopy
facilities are located in the Johnson Science Tower
and with the School of Polymer Science.
- The
Small Animal Research Facility, located in
John Science Tower, includes large and small wards,
a laboratory, and quarantine and hazard wards
capable of BioSafety Class 3 research.
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- A greenhouse, located on the east side of Walker Science Building, and the Teaching Garden,
located on the east and north sides of Walker Science Building, support botanical activities.
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MFGN Imaging and Genomics
Facility.
Created in 2002
through funding form the National Institutes
of Health, this modern facility is part of
the
Mississippi Functional Genomics Network, a
multidisciplinary, statewide collaborative
biomedical research effort and features a
state-of-the-art Zeiss LSM 510 confocal
laser scanning microscope, a Typhoon 9400
high-performance gel and blot imager,
Genepix 4200A microarray scanner, a
VersArray colony picker and arrayer system,
ChemiDoc XRS gel documentation system,
NanoDrop ND-1000 UV/Vis
Spectrophotometer, Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer,
computer visualization
technology, and bioinformatics server.
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The Zeiss 510 META CLSM
allows researchers to view fluorescently
tagged proteins or other molecules in living
cells. The high resolution and confocal
optics of the CLSM combined with
sophisticated software makes it possible to
produce detailed 3-D images of live cells
showing localization of tagged proteins and
subcellular structures. The 501 Meta
combines an expanded laser system with an
advanced META detector for better
multi-fluorescence imaging and separation of
fluorochromes which could not be imaged
together on other instruments. The META
detector also allows better separation of
background autofluorescence from fluorescent
dye emission. The Zeiss META has 6 laser
"lines" of excitation (405, 458, 488, 514,
543, and 633nm). The 405 laser allows for
imaging DAPI and other blue-emission
fluorochromes. |
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- Wet Lab Facility. Over 3,000 square feet
of space is partitioned into individual wet
lab rooms devoted to teaching and research.
Four of the wet labs are equipped with
automatic water-quality monitoring and
recording equipment. A modular steam system
is adaptable to various experimental
designs. A large walk-in environmental
chamber and two reach-in environmental
chambers include programmable light and
temperature regimes. Water to the wet lab is
supplied by a large reverse osmosis system.
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- Natural Science Park, located three miles west
of the Hattiesburg campus, includes a wet lab
facility, artificial stream system, large flight aviary, fields for growing
plants, and several acres of mixed pine - hardwood
forests available for research and teaching.
- The Lake Thoreau property,
+/- 130 acres and located about 5 km west of campus,
is available for teaching and field research. The
property consists primarily of upland longleaf pine
forest dissected by a few small hardwood drains and
one impoundment of about 8 acres. Located near the
western end of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, the site
is home to several species near their range limits
and preserves a longleaf pine ecosystem which has
dwindled to less than 5% of its original extent in
the U.S. The lake and adjacent areas have a
diversity a aquatic and wetland plants suitable for
training students in wetland delineation.
- Natural Areas. The Ragland Hills Nature
Conservancy,
National Forests, the
Crosby Arboretum, Black Creek Wilderness
Area, and Pascagoula River are within
minutes of the university's Hattiesburg
campus. Mississippi has 369 miles of tidal
shoreline along the northcentral Gulf of
Mexico. The mainland coast is protected by a
chain of barrier islands lying 9 to12 miles
offshore, several of which are included with
the
Gulf Islands National Seashore. This
stretch of coast, which is part of the
largest estuarine region in North America,
is a dynamic area in which to do research.
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Resources