Laboratories & Instrumentation

The DMC has two flowing seawater laboratories on our waterfront campus with dry and wet lab space for resident faculty and visiting investigators.

The Flowing Seawater Laboratory (FSL)

The FSL was renovated in 2021, thanks to support from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), Maine state bond funds, and support from the University of Maine. It was originally built in the late 1960s and expanded in 1991, thanks to many donors and friends of the DMC. The ground floor includes a modern wet lab and office/lab space for visiting investigators. Office and lab space for faculty, staff, and graduate students are located on the second floor.

The Marine Culture Laboratory (MCL)

The MCL was completed in 2001 with funding from the Maine Technology Asset Fund (MTAF). The focus of this facility is shellfish and algal culture, to support a range of applied and basic research projects, many of which are conducted in collaboration with industry.

Flowing Seawater

Pumps at the end of the DMC pier push 500 gallons of seawater per minute to head tanks in the MCL. From there gravity pulls the seawater through the wet labs and classrooms, back to the river. The ambient flow-through system enables researchers to hold native organisms for further study and controlled experiments. A quarantine room is available for holding non-native species.

Both wet labs have modular tank racks and a variety of tank sizes that facilitate flexible experimental set-up and design, and the capacity for chilled or heated seawater. Environmental chambers and walk-in coolers are also available. Visiting investigators have access to general use equipment and wet lab tank space in the FSL.

Flowing Seawater Facilities

  • Spectrofluorimeter
  • Plankton culture facilities (Kalwal and SEACAPS)
  • RO pure water purification system
  • Olympus BX-FLA fluorescence equipped microscope with SLR camera attachment
  • Coulter Counter
  • UV-VIS spectrophotometer
  • Ultra-cold freezer
  • Walk-in environmental chambers
  • Video-equipped compound and dissecting Olympus microscopes

Brady Lab

In addition to our flowing seawater laboratories on campus, the DMC hosts the Marine Water Quality Laboratory and the Oceanography of Fisheries and Aquaculture Laboratory:

Marine Water Quality Laboratory (MWQL)

  • Lachat Quickchem Analyzers: Phosphate, silicate, nitrate, nitrite
  • Shimadzu TOC/TNM: Total nitrogen, dissolved nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon, total carbon
  • Shimadzu Spectrophotometer: CDOM
  • Perkin Elmer Elemental Analyzer: Total carbon and total nitrogen of solid samples
  • Freeze dryer: For preparation of solid samples for carbon and nitrogen analysis
  • Trilogy fluorometer: Extracted chlorophyll and phaeophytin fluorescence
  • Surface Area Analyzer: Surface area of soils, sediment and particle samples
  • FIAlab FIAlyzer1000: Ammonia
  • Zeiss fluorescent microscope
  • Compound and dissecting scopes

Oceanography of fisheries and aquaculture Laboratory

  • YSI EXO 2 sondes: Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll a, turbidity,, fluoresced Dissolved Organic Matter (fDOM), depth
  • Sea-bird SUNA: Optical Nitrate Sensors
  • Nortek Signature 1000: Acoustic current profiler
  • Nortek Aquadopp: Current speed and direction
  • Sea-bird SeaFET: pH sensors
  • Sea-bird C-Star: Transmissometers
  • LICOR: in air PAR sensors
  • Sea-bird Eco-PAR: in water PAR sensors
  • LICOR profiling PAR sensors to pair with YSI EXO 2 sondes
  • McLane: Imagine Flow CytoBot
  • Contros HydroFIA: Total Alkalinity Analyzer
  • Lowell: Tilt Current Meters
  • InSitu AquaTroll 500: multi parameter sonde
  • Eureka Manta pCO2 sensor with live readout
  • Onset HOBO: Conductivity and temperature sensors
Learn more about the brady lab

Questions?

Contact dmc@maine.edu