Lab Resource
VAL LAB
The Variable Atmosphere and Light (VAL) lab is a Research Ireland (former Science Foundation Ireland) and Trinity College Dublin jointly funded National Infrastructure for plant science and global change research. The VAL consist of six walk-in experimentally controlled climate chambers with full control of light intensity and spectra, temperature, humidity, atmospheric composition and diurnal cycle. The CONVIRON PGC20 plant growth chambers are instrumented with infra-red phenotyping platform (Optris PI thermal imaging cameras), full solar spectrum LED lights (VALOYA DNA lights) and many other state-of-the-art environmental sensors and control systems. The VAL climatic chambers can simulate a weaker solar strength for deep time intervals, full sun and cloud dynamic effect of light spectrum and dynamic temperature and relative humidity and all in an elevated atmospheric CO2 (400 to 2000 ppm) environment. This is possible by the use of ARGUS climate controllers that simulate past solar, atmospheric and climatic conditions under dynamic field-like conditions.
The VAL lab also holds a Thermo Scientific Niton XL3 GOLDD+ handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyser. This advanced instrument allows for fast, non-destructive elemental analysis of soils, rocks, sediments, and plant materials in the lab or field. With cutting-edge technology, it delivers real-time results with high sensitivity, including for light elements without the need for helium or vacuum. It is widely used for geochemical surveys, environmental monitoring, and materials screening, offering lab-quality precision in a portable form.
Lab Resource
Palaeobiology Lab
The palaeoecology lab supports a variety of equipment and facilities to support field and lab-based research. This includes a range of sediment coring equipment and inflatable boats; a cold room storage facility for sediment cores and a suite of laboratories. The labs include a dirty lab for subsampling and sediment description, a chemical lab with a fume hood for sediment digestion and sample preparation and a microscope lab with a range of dissection and compound microscopes, a pollen reference collection and a small reference library.
Our newest addition to the lab is a Nikon stereomicroscope, configured to create high-resolution maps of complex materials. This system features a high optical magnification (>300x) single-optic system with a large working distance (>60 mm), along with a motorized stage and focus. The Discipline of Botany is the first in Ireland to acquire Nikon’s Extended Depth of Focus (EDF) software, which enables micron-scale topographic reconstruction of samples such as fossiliferous rocks and leaf surfaces. These advanced, state-of-the-art capabilities can also be combined with large image scans and modular epifluorescence, allowing for the creation of true-to-scale, spatially integrated, high-quality datasets for relatively large samples (~70 mm).
The Variable Atmosphere and Light Lab, the Plant Atmosphere Interactions Lab, and the Paleo-Botanical Lab have achieved outstanding results in the My Green Lab Certification process.