Facility tours

Details

Join the experts as you are shown around outstanding research facilities on Clayton campus during our August lunchtime tours. These tours are suitable for all audiences.

View a printable version of the Clayton campus map (pdf 833 kb).

Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy

The Centre is a central university research facility based around the techniques of electron microscopy and atom probe microscopy. The Centre has recently moved in to its new, purpose-designed building and has installed several new high-end microscopes. This is one of the most stable such buildings worldwide.

The special features of this unique building will be explained during the tour. Depending on instrument availability, visitors may be able to see a scanning electron microscope and the Titan transmission electron microscope. The Titan provides atomic resolution images and is one of the highest resolution microscopes in the world.

Monash University Accident Research Centre

The MUARC Advanced Driving Simulator is the only simulation facility of its kind in Australia and is the most advanced in the southern hemisphere. The driving simulator has played a central role in improving road safety in Australia and around the world by advancing our knowledge of the impact of technology, risk-taking and driver impairment on driving performance.

Visitors to the facility will learn how the simulator operates and will be given the opportunity to experience the simulator in action. They will also hear about the types of ground breaking research that is conducted using the simulator in the areas of driver fatigue, distraction, speed, drugs and alcohol and young driver skills training.

Visitors who wish to drive the simulator will be expected to sign a release form. It is advised that anyone who knowingly suffers from motion sickness or epilepsy should not participate. In the time available, only two or three people will be able to drive although others may sit in as passengers (they will also be required to sign a ‘release’ form). Those visitors who do not participate as drivers or passengers will still be able to experience the simulator.

FlowCore

FlowCore is a purpose built core facility providing world-class flow cytometry services to scientists from Monash University, the Australian Stem Cell Centre and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute.

The large dedicated laboratory currently houses three high speed sorters and two analysers with the capacity to expand to six sorters and six analysers, making FlowCore one of the top flow cytometry facilities in Australia. Our equipment boasts cutting-edge features such as 561nm yellow/green laser technology and Australia's first five-laser cell sorter, allowing unrivalled flexibility for Melbourne researchers.

Protein Production and Protein Crystallisation Units

The Protein Production Unit is a high through put protein production facility that produces recombinant proteins for a wide variety of scientific purposes. The proteins produced can be used to a variety of downstream applications such as vaccine trials, crystallisation trials and to create unique laboratory tools.

The Protein Crystallisation Unit is the largest fully-integrated crystal production facility in the world. The Rigaku Crystalmation robot is capable of performing crystallisation experiments automatically. The robot can deliver small volumes of protein and quickly screen thousands of samples for the growth of crystals in a reproducible way. The results are sent to researchers remotely via a web-based interface. The ‘helper’ will increase productivity and allow scientists to tackle challenging research projects.

Monash Biomedical Proteomics Facility

Mass spectrometry is an important tool for the identification, quantitation and characterisation of proteins. It assists us to understand the molecular basis for disease as well as identify potential markers for disease and targets for therapy. During the tour of the facility, visitors will be able to see and learn about the equipment used for proteomics experiments. Visitors will be able to see what information we get from the equipment as well as learn about how we are able to relate this data to actual proteins and the application of this information to our research.