Laboratory Facilities

The Heart Valve Laboratory is located on the fourth floor of the Saban research institute within the Childrens hospital Los Angeles. It consists of adjoining wet lab space, equipment rooms, tissue culture facilities and laboratories for computer modeling and materials testing.

The laboratory is contiguous with that of other scientists working on organ transplantation and fibrosis, thus enhancing collaborative activities.

The materials testing facility is contained in an adjoining equipment room and is equipped with an Instron 5843 single column material testing system, hydrodynamic valve tester, flexural fatigue tester and a small drill press / milling machine for small parts fabrication.  The Instron is a horizontal unit, designed for high precision / low force testing of small tissue specimens, such as our tissue-engineered materials.

Microscopy facilities consist of 3 Olympus research microscope systems with digital camera Microfire. The 3 microscopes are ZX9 stereomicroscope system, BX51 upright microscope system with the capability of polarized light and fluorescence, and CKX41inverted live cell microscope system.

Through collaborative projects, we make use of the Histopathology and Electron Microscopy Laboratory core facility in the Department.