Research infrastructure

Laboratories
UNILA has research laboratories in the JU and PTI campi, and it has teaching laboratories in JU as well to help research activities. See the detailed description of each laboratory used in PPGBN bellow (it is important to notice that most of the described spaces are exclusively available for professors of PPGBN):

1. Research laboratories located in campus PTI, in Edifício das Águas:
1.1. Triage and material preparation room. It has 44,10m² and it is shared with the Herbarium and with the laboratories of Entomology and Molecular Biology. The triage room includes two benches, horizontal freezer, two desks, six chairs, a magnifying glass, a computer with access to the internet, a fume hood, 10 organizers and a greenhouse for exsiccates;

1.2. Herbarium. It has a room for a dried collection (13,50m²), where the collection of exsiccates is stored in 40 organizers inside six open steel cupboards. It also has a table, a chair, a computer with access to the internet, an air conditioner and a dehumidifier. Currently, there are 4050 registered exsiccates in UNILA’s herbarium.

1.3. Entomological collection with air conditioning system and entomological cabinets;

1.4. Molecular Biology Laboratory, with two lateral benches and a central bench, proper electrical wiring and piped gas. This laboratory has micropipets, microcentrifuge, thermocycler, electrophoresis equipment, a freezer and two computers. In the year of 2018 it was renovated and now it has two refrigerators, a freezer, a microwave, a flake ice machine. There is also a -80 freezer for general use, for conservation of biological samples for molecular analysis.

1.5. Laboratory for Landscape Ecology, with five computing machines, licenses of the software: ArcGIS 10.3, Idrisi Selva and Envi 5.0 for treating geospatial data. It contributes to projects with themes which are related to the effects of fragmentation and the structure of the landscape onto the communities of animals and plants, dynamic modeling of the use of lands and methods of spatial analysis applied to biogeography;

1.6. The laboratory of Limnology of UNILA is currently located in the lab complex of LEAM (multiuser laboratory Engenheira Enedina Alves Marques) and is has an area of about 30 m2 with lateral granite benches, sinks with faucets and a central bench. The space is owned by the Itaipu Technological Park Foundation (FPTI) and it is being used by UNILA in the scope of a cooperation agreement. The laboratory has a set of equipment related to the analysis of water in the field, collection material of water organisms, and also equipment for laboratory analysis, microscopic and data analysis, such as:
I) equipment for analyzing water in the field – including a multiparameter sonde (Horiba U-51 for the analysis of the following variables: temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, oxidation reduction potential, dissolved total solids and turbidity) and a GPS;
II) material for the collection of water organisms – nets for the collection of phytoplankton, zooplankton, aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish, Van Dorn bottle and dredges for the collection of benthos;
III) equipment for laboratory analysis – a benchtop turbidimeter, a refrigerator, a BOD for the cultivation of algae, a muffle, a hood for the manipulation of samples and two greenhouses (one of them being a forced air ventilation one);
IV) microscopy equipment – one being a Zeiss stereomicroscope and a Zeiss Axiolab microscope, both coupled to image capturing systems;
V) The laboratory has a workstation connected to each one of the image capturing systems in order to help data processing and it also has other computers which are solely used for analysis. Besides this equipment which is owned by UNILA and are a permanent part of the laboratory of Limnology, there is an agreement between UNILA and Itaipu / FPTI which permits the use of some other equipment that are inside the lab: a current meter to measure water flow and flow rate, a microscope by Zeiss Scope with image capturing system and an electro fishing backpack equipment to be used in the field. The agreements with Itaipu Binacional and FPTI make sure that laboratory consumables are purchased, from bottles to store samples, reagents for all analysis and glassware in general.

1.7. Laboratory of Scanning Electron Microscopy, with a room for preparing samples which has gas hoses (argon and CO2), and other equipment for sample preparation such as metallizer and critical point;

1.8. Laboratory of Chromatography and Optical Methods, with a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and a gas chromatography; a UV-VIS Spectrophotometer.

2. Research Laboratory in Jardim Universitário: four laboratories exclusive for the use of research activity:
2.1. Biogeography and Macroecology, it has four computers for creating species occurrence database, statistical analysis, geoprocessing and evolutionary analysis. All four computers include licenses by ESRI ArcGIS 10.6;

2.2. Environmental Biotecnology: equipped with tools for the microbiological analysis of environmental samples (soil and water). The laboratory has: a Binocular Biological Microscope Zeiss Primostar; a Binocular Stereoscope Microscope Nikon C-Leads; a Biological Safety Cabinet (laminar flow) Simblab; horizontal autoclaves Digitale; Microboard driver Flashscan 530 Analitk; Spectrophotometer UV/VIS 200 to 1.000 mm (Weblabor); Drying and sterilization machine Lucadema; Vertical Freezer Consul; Duplex frost free refrigerator Brastemp; B.O.D without photoperiod (incubator) Lucadema; Analytical Scale Even; Semi-analytical scale Even; Microwave oven Brastemp; Fume hood Sppencer.

2.3. The Laboratory of Histology and Microscopy is divided into 3 areas:
- Room 1 – Material preparation room for histology, equipped with 2 refrigerators, 1 freezer, 1 drying oven, 1 autoclave, 1 mini-spin centrifuge, 1 centrifuge for falcon tubes, 1 histological bath, 1 vibratome, 1 microtome, 1 fume hood, 2 magnetic agitators, 1 semi-analytical scale, 1 ultrasonic bath.
- Room 2 – Cell culture room, equipped with 1 laminar flow hood, 2 CO2 ovens
- Room 3 – Microscopy room, equipped with 1 brightfield trinocular microscope with image capturing system (zeiss Primotech), 1 binocular microscope (zeiss primo-star), 2 stereomicroscopes Zeiss, 2 fluorescence microscopes, brightfield and phase contrast (Nikon), 1 fluorescence inverted microscope, brightfield and phase contrast (Nikon), 1 drying oven, 1 BOD with photoperiod.

2.4. Laboratory of Wet Scientific Collections, containing three independent areas, all of which are equipped with air conditioning system. The anteroom is used for collection curating activities and also as an area of the Laboratory of Ecology of Metacommunities (LEMet). The anteroom is equipped with two computers, desks, chairs, shelves, cabinets, benches, two refrigerators, a microwave oven and two stereoscope microscopes. The other two areas are reserved for wet scientific collections: one space for the collection of amphibians and reptiles and the other one for fish. The collection rooms are equipped with shelves and air conditioning systems and exhaust fans;

2.5. Laboratory of Biodiversity: it is a multiuser 150-m² space, divided into six rooms:
I) an air-conditioned room for the development of insects (2,86 m²), containing shelves;
II) an experimentation room (9,65 m²), with photoperiod bulbs and control which permit researchers to make simple experiments in vegetable biology (sprouting, growth, etc.);
III) a 2,87-m² storage room;
IV) a microscopy room (21,04 m²), with five stereoscopic microscopes, benches and cabinets for entomological drawers (it is not a collection; it is for storing study material);
V) a microscopy room with a workstation, an optical microscope and a stereoscopic microscope. Both equipment have image capturing systems and commercial software for image fusion. Room temperature and humidity is controlled by air-conditioners and dehumidifiers;
VI) a shared room (106,07 m²), with benches, cabinets, sinks, steel shelves, lockers, etc. This space daily meets the demands of an ecology/zoology/botany laboratory, and it has the following equipment: a 500-liter stove, a workstation for carrying out analysis which depend on more powerful computers, a vertical freezer, a horizontal freezer, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, two BODs, a semi-analytical scale. We also have a good TASCAM recorder (though it is not owned by UNILA and it does not have a good microphone) and an AudioMoth Recorder which can record ultrasounds (between 8 and 384 kHz).

2.6. Laboratory of Biochemistry and Microbiology. It is a space for the development of the field of knowledge regarding biochemistry, mycology, bacteriology, parasitology and molecular biology. It is formed of a single space which is divided into a culture area, a microscopy area and a molecular biology area. It is used for teaching and research activities of the undergraduate courses of UNILA, specially Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and the Graduate Programs of Neotropical Biodiversity and Biosciences. It has about 60 m² and it has a capacity for 40 sitting users. There is an air conditioning system with 4 air conditioners. It also has 2 (two) long benches with access to the Bunsen burner, 1 (one) support bench near the biological safety cabinets and 1 (one) bench with a cabinet near the molecular biology area. The laboratory also has 2 (two) sinks for general use and 1 (one) sink specifically for molecular biology activities, 2 (two) desks and 3 (three) chairs, 1 (one) locker for storing the users’ personal items, 4 (four) two-door high cabinets and 1 (one) two-door small cabinet and also 1 (one) eye wash shower.

The laboratory is equipped with the following items: 2 (two) Level 2 Biological Safety Cabinets, 1 (one) BOD incubator, 1 (one) refrigerator, 1 (one) freezer, 2 (two) bench incubators, 1 (one) refrigerated microcentrifuge, 1 (one) refrigerated centrifuge, 1 (one) photo documenter, 1 (one) electrophoresis tank, 2 (two) thermocyclers, 1 (one) electrophoresis power sourse, 1 (one) thermoblock dry bath, 1 (one) mini-spin centrifuge, 1 (one) nanodrop, 1 (one) PrimoStar microscope, Zeiss, 1 (one) spectrophotometer, 2 computers.

2.7 Laboratory Preparation Room. The preparation room is a space for preparing material, including weighing, sterilizing, storing and washing. It serves the research laboratories of the gymnasium building of UNILA-JU. It is a 20-m² room for 8 (eight) students. It has two air conditioners, a bench for material preparation, a sink for general use and three two-door cabinets.
There are: 1 (one) water deionizer, 1 (one) semi-analytical scale, 1 (one) analytical scale, 1 (one) freezer, 2 (two) duplex refrigerators, 1 (one) -80ºC freezer, 1 (one) fume hood, 2 (two) horizontal autoclaves, 1 (one) incubation stove with shaker agitator, 1 (one) ice machine, 1 (one) drying stove, 1 (one) pH meter, 1 (one) thermoblock dry bath, 2 (two) magnetic agitators, 1 (one) tube agitator and 1 (one) microwave.

2.8. Teaching Laboratories for the undergraduate course of Biological Sciences – Ecology and Biodiversity, which also serves as support to the research activities. It has 8 rooms with benches, stereoscopic microscopes and binocular microscopes. Also, it has a Didactic Collection; a Reagent Warehouse and a “Preparation” Room.

Computing Resources
UNILA has wi-fi connection in every and it is available for all master’s degree students. Besides, there is a study room for master’s degree students with six computers connected to the internet and there are several computers in the research labs: one in the triage room in PTI, in the Molecular Biology lab (two), in the Landscape Ecology Lab (five workstations), in the Limnology Lab (one), in the Biogeography and Macroecology Lab in JU (four), in the Biodiversity Lab (one workstation) and in the Laboratory of Wet Scientific Collections (two).
There is also access to two computing labs in campus UNILA-JU. So, there is a total of 56 computers available, with licenses by ArcGIS and of modules Spatial Analyst, Geostatistical Analyst and 3D Analyst, Envi + IDL 5.0 and a Idrisi Selva license which is available for all computers in the UNILA network. QGIS and Ilwis are available for the analysis of geographic data and the R software for statistical data, besides the Autodesk software;
There are also the 23 computers available in the library of UNILA.

Besides these spaces, we also have the support of the High Performance Computing Lab, with a supercomputer (BULL) which has a high storage and data processing capacity, a computing performance of 12,16 Teraflops, 1,8 TB of global memory, modular configuration of 404 Intel Xeon cores and 7.040 graphic processing unit cores, not to mention the storage 36 TB.

Library
UNILA has two libraries (BIUNILA), one in the Unila-PTI campus and the other in UNILA-JU.

BIUNILA - J.U. (Jardim Universitário – where the Graduate Program in Neotropical Biodiversity is located as well) is a wide 526,83m² room. The collection is organized in about 90 shelves and is centralized in the room which also has:
- 1 front desk;
- Reading and study space (06 roundtables, 01 map table, 110 chairs and 34 study stations, 02 desks in the accessible space);
- 08 group study rooms (space dividers);
- 23 computers;
- 90 book shelves and 2 cabins for digital media content (CDs e DVDs);
- Lockers.
In this unit, the main services are offered in the following spaces:
- Administrative area: 49,43 m²;
- Collection area: 138,75 m²;
- 8 internal study rooms (each room = 7,5 m²), a total of 60 m².
- Total area for studies: 305,79 m².

BIUNILA is located in the UNILA-PTI campus, which also has a collection in the field of Biodiversity. It is located in a building of more than 4.000 m² (including walkways and internal gardens). The usable area of this structure which is located in Block 01 of PTI has 2.263 m², and 1.371 m² of this area is considered common space. The library space is distributed as follows:
- Reading and Study space (293 chairs, 45 tables and 83 desks);
- 12 computers;
- Winter garden (Solarium);
- Front desk;
- Lockers;
- 175 book shelves and 2 cabins for digital media (DVDs e CDs)
- 8 group study rooms (outside the library)
In this unit, the main services are offered in the following spaces:
- Administrative area: 360 m²;
- Collection area: 531 m²;
- Indoor study room: 543,8 m²;
- Outdoor study room (each room = 13,15 m²) a total of 105,2 m².

BIUNILA offers the following services: 29 access links to free Digital Libraries; access to the journal database by Web of Science (Thompson-Reuters), Jstor, Scielo, and other free platforms.
Our institution has a total of 19.902 titles and 76.095 items available in its two campi (Jardim Universitário and Parque Tecnológico de Itaipu). Sixty-two of these titles and 4.330 items are specific to the field of Biological Sciences.

Both libraries have a great collection of titles in the field of Biodiversity, distributed as follows:

298 titles in the field of Ecology,
113 - Evolution,
17 – Systematics and Phylogenetics,
20 – Conservation of Biodiversity,
106 – Botanics,
48 - Zoology,
13 - Entomology,
26 - Microbiology,
8 - Limnology,
23 - Oceanography,
32 – Molecular biology
84 – Genetics