The ÆDNA laboratory

 

The laboratory is a high-specification, dedicated clean room facility, designed to reduce the risk of contamination from other sources of DNA. It allows researchers to work with biological material containing damaged, degraded and low-copy DNA that cannot be processed in a normal laboratory environment.

The lab consists of an ante room, changing room, and three clean rooms:

* Main Clean Room (for sample preparation)

* Franklin Room (for DNA extraction)

* Wilkins Room (for pre-PCR molecular biology)

To provide further levels of contamination control, the lab is supplied with HEPA-filtered air and maintained under positive pressure. When not in use, the changing room and clean rooms are irradiated with UVC light to destroy residual DNA remaining on surfaces. The Franklin and Wilkins Rooms are fitted with Class II cabinets to provide a further level of sample protection.