The Department of Botany has two lecture rooms and one laboratory for teaching. In addition, specialized facilities are available for teaching (see below) and an auditorium provides the venue for conferences and lectures. The Department has established several state-of-the-art facilities for teaching and research, which are available for use by graduate students and faculty.
1. CENTRAL INSTRUMENTATION FACILITY (CIF):
The CIF includes several basic instruments, which are routinely used for teaching various courses in the B.Sc. program. Some of these include PCR machines, spectrophotometer, refrigerated microfuge, gel electrophoresis units (horizontal) and electrophoresis power supplies, electroporator, pH Meters, stirrers, vortexers, dry blocks, table-top centrifuges (non-refrigerated), Refrigerated bench-top and floor model centrifuges, temperature-controlled incubator shaker, plant growth chambers, plant growth rooms, UV transilluminator, micro- and macro- weighing balances, refrigerated water baths and micropipette sets, BOD incubator, incubator oven (2 high temperature, 3 routine), automated soil CO2 flux system, microtome, Altimeter, GPS system, soil thermometer, soil colour chart, Kjeldahl system digestion unit, fluorimeter, Nikon/Carl Zeiss microscopes and Olympus binoculars, pollen and spore samplers (portable) and a refractometer. Additionally, the CIF is also equipped with high-end instruments viz., high-speed centrifuge, gel documentation system, fluorescence microscope, sonicator, Speed vac, gel dryer, Luciferase Imaging Camera, HPLC, Nitric oxide analyzer and Real time PCR. The facility also has -80?C and -20?C freezers for use by various laboratories. Among other common facilities is a water purification system, Ice-flaker machine, autoclaves and cold rooms that cater to various research laboratories. A radioisotope handling facility with LaserScanner for imaging is also being developed (awaiting license from BRIT/BARC).
2. MICROSCOPY FACILITIES:
The Department of Botany has also established facilities for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with funds obtained from the Department of Science and Technology under the FIST program and University of Delhi, respectively. In addition, a Confocal Microscope has been operational in the Department for twelve years.
3. GROWTH FACILITIES:
The Departmental facilities include a plant tissue culture room and three greenhouses under different temperature regimes and photoperiod conditions for growth of different plant materials. Additionally, three growth rooms for model plants viz., Arabidopsis and two growth rooms for studying plant interactions with various pathogens and pests are also available. The Department also has a microbial culture facility and a botanical garden that houses several plants of academic interest.
4. Library:
The Departmental library is located at college campus. It houses a total of 3040 books. The library includes reading space as well as 6 computers for use by students.
