THE LAB

Facilities

The Looy Lab has facilities for the complete chemical processing and analysis of paleobotanical and palynological samples. Clearing and imaging of modern and herbarium leaf material is also being done.

Acid Lab
To extract palynomorphs or cuticles from sediments, carbonates and silicates within the rock samples need to be dissolved in hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid. This process (and other treatments with potentially hazardous chemicals such as Schulze solution) takes place in the shared UCMP Acid Laboratory on the ground floor of the Valley Life Sciences Building. This dedicated lab has all necessary safety equipment and expertise, particularly concerning the work with hydrofluoric acid.

Main Lab
The Paleobotany Laboratory aka Looy Lab is located in four rooms in the Valley Life Sciences Building (VLSB 4101-4104). Apart from the desk spaces for students, the main room also contains a dedicated area to further process palynological and cuticle samples after the acid treatment (in the acid lab). The fume hood, sieving and slide preparation stations are used for sieving, sample concentrating, heavy liquid separation (Sodium Polytungstate), bleaching (Sodiumhypochlorite only) and the mounting of slides.

Microscopy
The Looy Lab Microscopy and Imaging room (VLSB 4103) is the epicentre of palynological and paleobotanical analysis. We use a Leica M165 stereomicroscope for larger (paleo)botanical samples, a Leica 2000 microscope with epifluorescence and 2.5x and 5x objectives for cuticle, and a Leica DM2500 with DIC for palynological or cuticle slides. This room also houses the photography stand and desktop scanners for leaf imaging.

University of California Museum of Paleontology
The UCMP collections, housed on the ground floor of the Valley Life Sciences Building contains specimens of fossil plants, algae, and fungi. Tertiary plant fossils from the Western USA are particularly well-represented. The paleobotany collections are curated by museum scientist Diane Erwin. The online specimen catalog contains over 34,700 specimens, including images of leaf specimens in the Axelrod cleared leaf collection. The collections are not open to the general public, please contact Diane Erwin to schedule a visit.

The University and Jepson Herbaria
The University and Jepson Herbaria are two collections of pressed plants housed together along with research labs, libraries, and archives. With a current combined total of over 2,200,000 accessioned specimens, the University Herbarium (UC) and Jepson Herbarium (JEPS) represent the largest collection of herbarium material west of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the largest at a public university in the United States. UC has a worldwide scope and particular strengths in marine algae, fungi (including lichens), bryophytes, pteridophytes, and flowering plants. JEPS comprises a separate, privately endowed collection of about 96,000 specimens of vascular plants of California.

UCB Molecular Phylogenetics Lab
The Molecular Phylogenetics Lab (MPL) supports University of California Museum of Paleontology and University and Jepson Herbaria researchers who use molecular markers in their work. Research in the MPL spans a broad range of taxa and addresses many different types of ecological and evolutionary questions.

Histology Lab
A histology lab equipped with several kinds of microtomes (including a cryomicrotome and a vibratome) is available for embedding and cross sectioning of plant material.