Common and core facilities in Biomedicum
List of common and core facilities available in Biomedicum.
Common facilities/labs
Common virus facilities BSL-2 (D0411 & D0413)
The virus common facility aims to provide a suitable, safe and up-to-date virus work laboratory.
This facility is equipped with all necessary tools/equipment to perform virus work including production, purification, concentration and titration.
The equipment in the facility can be booked to perform virus based experiments on a price-per-hour basis (to be determined).
Please observe that access to the facility is restricted. Permit notification of GMM, mandatory introduction and booking are required.
Infoposter Common Virus Facilities in Biomedicum (BSL-2) (pdf)
Contact person:
Albert Blanchart Aguado
E-mail: Virusfacility@ki.se
Room for handling CMR-classified chemicals
By law, the handling of CMR-classified chemicals must be done in a delimitated and defined area. This, in order to limit the number of people who might risk being exposed, and also, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should be able to avoid these chemicals.
Therefore, special rooms are provided for the proper handling and storage of CMR-classified chemicals.
The rooms should not be used as general chemical storage for all chemicals.
There are two ‘CMR-rooms’ per floor, which means that two quarters will have to share.
Contact person:
Sabina Eriksson
E-mail: Sabina:Eriksson@ki.se
Dark Room
There are two dark rooms on floor 2, room B0210 and room B0213.
They are equipped with developer machines, dark room light etc. If you want to you can store your films and cassettes in the lab. Label them with name and department.
The rooms are to be used as drop-in labs, but cannot be booked in advance. Please respect other co-workers and knock before entering the rooms.
Before starting to work in the dark rooms contact FM Helpdesk (contact person is Ahmad Moshref) for a general introduction to the facility.
FM also supports the dark room facility by weekly discarding the waste, rinsing the developer machines, ordering more developer and fix solutions when needed. Please place a ticket to let us know.
Contact person:
Ahmad Moshref
E-mail: Ahmad.Moshref@ki.se
Gas storage rooms
Access to this room is restricted. Contact FM if you need access to the premises.
Carbon dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen (N2) and Carbogen (CO2 + O2) are gases that will be centrally provided in Biomedicum.
Other/special gases are purchased via FM and will be delivered in gas flasks to the gas flask storage room in your quarter. When a gas flask is about to run empty, a message till automatically be sent to FM, who will replace the empty bottle with a new one.
More information on Biomedicum Gas storage requirements.
More inforatmation on Gas and Biomedicum Gas handling routines.
Contact FM Helpdesk for more information.
Radioactive facility
In Biomedicum there will be three common facilities for work with radioactive material.
For questions, contact:
| Room | Isotopes |
|---|---|
| Floor 5 room #C0511 | Non extensive work. Low activity. Radiotoxity class C and D isotopes. |
| Floor 7 room #D0711 | Non extensive work. Low activity. Radiotoxity class C and D isotopes. |
| Floor 9 room #D0911 | Extensive work. High activity. Radiotoxity class B and C isotopes, e.g. 125I. |
All personnel who carry out work with radionuclides must in accordance with regulations set by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM):
- participate in a radiation safety lecture held by the employer.
- have knowledge about local radiation protection rules as well as knowledge on risks from radiation.
- participate in local introduction to the facilities in Biomedicum.
The lecture in Radiation protection is held by the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and needs to be repeated every 5 years.
Strålsäkerhetsutbildning för nuklearmedicin och labverksamhet med öppna strålkällor (course website)
License
- The research group must possess a local licence from the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital in order to carry out work using radionuclides. The licence is valid for one year.
- Apply for a licence by using form - Application for licence to work with radioactive
sources in Biomedicum - and send to joachim.nilsson@sll.se
Waste handling
Waste handling of radioactive waste
Core facilities
- Biomedicum flow cytometry core facility (BFC)
- Biomedicum Imaging Core (BIC)
- Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Facility
- Chemical Proteomics Core Facility
- Histological core facility (Histo-core)
- IPS Core Facility
- IVIS-SpectrumCT In Vivo Imaging Core Laboratory
- Micro and Nanofabrication core facility (MCF)
- Protein Science Facility
- Proteomics Biomedicum
- VirusTech Core Facility
All core facilities at Karolinska Institutet
Low temperature freezer storage facility
On floor 2 there are several rooms for storage of low temperature freezers (-80C, -150C). In addition, there are about 20 freezers for storing samples in liquid nitrogen. You will be given access to the room in which you have your freezer.
For access to the facility with liquid nitrogen freezers, you need to attend and pass a special 'Liquid Nitrogen Safety Course'. For more information about the course, please contact Katrin Pütsep.
Contact person:
Katrin Pütsep
E-mail: mailto:Katrin.Putsep@ki.se
Dishwashing facility
There is a central lab dishwashing and autoclaving facility in Biomedicum located on floor 2. Personnel from the dishwashing facility pick up materials for dishwashing and autoclaving on a daily basis.
See also a printable version of the instructions.
Dishwashing Service
Non-contaminated materials or glass for dishwashing
- Place dirty (but non-contaminated) materials or laboratory glass for dishwashing in the black container in your quarter waste room, by the space marked “Lab Washing – dirty but non-contaminated” (see picture).
- All glassware sent to dishwashing must be rinsed and free from biological- and/or chemical contamination. Decontaminate with verified method first, if necessary.
- Group specific laboratory glass are to be placed in a container, labelled with your name and quarter. This will ensure that you will receive the same glassware back.
- FM will collect all dirty lab glassware from the quarters and transport it to the central dish washing unit on floor 2 on a daily basis.
- Cleaned and, if needed, sterilized lab glassware will be returned to the room for clean lab glassware (one per floor).
Materials or glassware with infectious or biological materials must be sent for autoclaving before dishwashing. Please see section "Contaminated materials or glass for autoclaving and dishwashing" for more information.
Autoclaving facility/service
Guidelines
The Biomedicum autoclaving service can be used if you want to sterilize equipment or products prior to use in an experiment, or if you want to render items non-infectious prior to disposal; i.e. autoclave waste.
For sterilization, please see section “Sterilization of materials and liquids” below.
For autoclaving waste and/or for autoclaving contaminated materials or glass, please see section “Contaminated materials or glass for autoclaving and dishwashing” or “Waste to be autoclaved” below.
| Standard Autoclave programs | |
|---|---|
| Liquids | 121°C, approx. 20 min sterilization |
| Liquids | 121°C, approx. 20 min sterilization |
| Solids | 121°C, approx. 20 min sterilization |
| Waste | 121°C, approx. 20 min sterilization |
Autoclave compatible materials:
- Biological/infectious cultures and stocks. May contain antibiotics
- Culture dishes and related items
- Discarded live and attenuated viruses/vaccines
- Contaminated* solid items (pipette tips, gloves, petri dishes, falcon tubes etc.)
*Biological or infectious agents only, no chemicals! - Items for sterilization (glassware, media, equipment, water)
- Polypropylene (PP) and Polycarbonate (PC) plastics
- Borosilicate glass
- Stainless steel
Autoclave incompatible materials:
- Materials containing solvents; volatile, toxic, corrosive or flammable chemicals
- Material contaminated with chemotherapeutic agents, cytotoxic drugs
- Radioactive chemicals
- Material containing bleach
- Carcinogens or mutagens (e.g. Ethidium bromide)
- Decontamination solutions, e.g. Virkon or other!
- Phenol and Trizol
- Polystyrene (PS), Polyethylene (PE), and high density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastics
- “Household” glassware
- To prevent bottles from shattering during pressurization and to facilitate steam penetration, bottle caps and stoppers placed in the yellow autoclavable bins must be loosened before placed in the bin! If left sealed, the bottles might not be properly sterilized and could burst violently if exposed to extreme heat!
- Never mix liquids and solids to be autoclaved. These two fractions are autoclaved with different programs.
- If you are not sure if your waste material is autoclave compatible, or if you do not have the correct container, dispose of as “Sharp and infectious” waste instead.
- Please follow the guidelines at all times! Autoclaving hazardous or incompatible materials may generate toxic vapors or explosive environments for the FM service personnel!
Sterilization of materials and liquids
If you want to sterilize equipment/products prior to use in an experiment;
- Leave the solid materials or liquids you wish to have sterilized in the room for clean lab glassware. There is one room for glassware available on each floor.
- Materials such as pipette tips, tubes, and tools etc. are placed in an autoclave bag.
- Label with the “To be autoclaved” label and write name and quarter.
- The autoclaved materials and liquids will be returned to the room for clean lab glassware once it has been autoclaved. Please pick up your items within two days or you risk having them removed if there is lack of space.
- If you want to have your items autoclaved for the same day you have to leave them before 12 am.
- No autoclave-incompatible materials or chemicals are allowed to be autoclaved! For a general overview over compatible and incompatible materials, see section “Guidelines”.
- For waste and/or contaminated laboratory glass and materials to be autoclaved, see sections below.
Contaminated materials or glass for autoclaving and dishwashing
Materials or glassware contaminated with infectious or biological materials need to be sent for autoclaving before dishwashing. Note that no chemical contaminations are allowed.
- Contaminated laboratory glass or materials are placed by the space marked “Lab Washing – contaminated, or waste to be autoclaved” in your quarter waste room.
- Use the yellow autoclavable bin, or on the red container (if the items don’t fit in the yellow bin) for your materials. Always put contaminated material or glass in an autoclave bag before placing it in the bin or on the container. See picture below.
- Label the bin or autoclave bag with the label “contaminated materials, and/or WASTE, TO BE AUTOCLAVED”. Cross the “solid” option, and fill in name, quarter and date.
These containers will be autoclaved and the materials or glass will then be sent to the dishwashing facility.
► IMPORTANT! To prevent bottles from shattering during pressurization and to facilitate steam penetration, bottle caps and stoppers placed in the yellow autoclavable bins must be loosened before placed in the bin! If left sealed, the bottles might not be properly sterilized and could burst violently if exposed to extreme heat!
► IMPORTANT! Never mix liquids and solids to be autoclaved. These two fractions are autoclaved with different programs.
- The yellow containers are autoclavable and reusable (possible to reopen). Note that these containers are not to be mixed up with the other single-use yellow containers for “Sharp and infectious” waste.
- No autoclave-incompatible materials or chemicals are allowed to be autoclaved. For a general overview over compatible and incompatible materials, see section “Guidelines”.
Waste to be autoclaved
Solid or liquid waste contaminated with infectious and/or biological materials can be sent for autoclaving and disposal.
- Liquid or solid waste for autoclaving and disposal are placed by the space marked “Lab Washing – Contaminated, or waste to be autoclaved” in your quarter waste room.
- Use the yellow autoclavable bin, or on the red container (if the items don’t fit in the yellow bin) for your waste. Always put waste in an autoclave bag before placing it in the bin or on the container. See picture below.
- Liquid waste is to be placed in a bottle or container before placed in the yellow autoclavable bin. Liquid waste containing antibiotics is also allowed, but no other chemicals are allowed to be autoclaved.
- Label the bin or autoclave bag with the label “contaminated materials, and/or WASTE, TO BE AUTOCLAVED”. Cross the “solid” option, and fill in name, quarter and date. Mark also whether the waste contains antibiotics or not.
- The containers will be autoclaved and the content disposed of as normal combustible waste. Waste containing antibiotics will be autoclaved and then disposed of as chemical waste, due to the antibiotic content.
Note:
► IMPORTANT! To prevent bottles from shattering during pressurization and to facilitate steam penetration, bottle caps and stoppers must be loosened before placed in the yellow autoclave bin. If left sealed, they may not be properly sterilized and could burst violently if exposed to extreme heat.
► IMPORTANT! Never mix liquids and solids to be autoclaved. These two fractions are autoclaved with different programs.
- The yellow containers are autoclavable and reusable (possible to reopen). Note that these containers are not to be mixed up with the other single-use yellow containers for “Sharp and infectious” waste.
- No autoclave-incompatible materials or chemicals are allowed to be autoclaved. For a general overview over compatible and incompatible materials, see section “Autoclaving Guidelines”.
- Unmarked or wrongly handled waste will not be collected by FM personnel. Unmarked or wrongly handled waste will be labelled with the label for inappropriate waste.
Lab coats to be autoclaved
If you need clean and autoclaved lab coats, send a ticket via FM Helpdesk to order autoclaved lab coats.
If you have a contaminated lab coat that needs to be autoclaved (decontaminated) prior to being washed;
- Place it in an autoclave bag and label with the label “TO BE AUTOCLAVED”. Until we have received the Biomedicum common lab coats also fill in your name, quarter and the date.
- Place the bag in the waste room in your quarter by the space marked “Lab Washing – Contaminated, or waste to be autoclaved”.
- Clean lab coats will be placed in the room for clean lab glassware on each floor.