Facilities and Gardens

Herbarium

The Herbarium in the Department of Biological Sciences at Chicago State University serves as a teaching and research facility for students, faculty and the university community.

Our collection has specimens of lichens, bryophytes and vascular plants. However, the largest group of plants represented in the collection are the flowering plants. Particularly noteworthy in our collection of flowering plants are specimens from the south side of Chicago and voucher specimens for collaborative land reclamation studies with investigators at Argonne National Laboratory.

Contact information

Department of Biological Sciences / SCI 310
Chicago State University
9501 S. King Drive, Chicago, IL 60628
Email: jgana@csu.edu

Phone: 773-995-2183
Fax: 995-3759

 

Microscope Imaging

Our Mission

The mission of the Chicago State University Central Microscopy Facility is to provide the student researchers and faculty members with Teaching / Training, Access, Technical Support and Service for a broad range of microscopy techniques.

Teaching / Training

Further exposure to EM techniques in the form of workshops is offered in the summer to students participating in summer programs. During the academic year, microscopes are also available to the biology and chemistry departments to support classroom activities. In years when the formal course is not offered, individual training is available to assist students in integrating microscopy techniques into their projects.

Access

The goal of the facility is to provide access to advanced imaging instrumentation to the CSU research community in an environment that fosters innovation and creativity. A key part of this mission is to offer exposure to advanced imaging technology to the broadest cross section of students interested in STEM fields.

Technical Support

The microscopy facility aims to support faculty and student driven research in areas of biology, chemistry, and physics by providing expertise in planning experiments, collecting images and preparing images for publication. The facility also provides a limited amount of hands-on support for faculty research projects.

Service

Microscopy education is another key part of the facility's mission. The facility provides year-round tours to prospective students from various Chicagoland high schools, introductory biology classes and community groups. The facility is committed to seeking opportunities to support faculty-based community outreach and education efforts.

 

Facility Instruments

EM Microscopes

JEOL JSM 6610LV Scanning Electron Microscope

SEM allows the observation of the surface details of a sample. This gives a magnification range of 5x to 300,000x. This microscope is equipped with four detectors that provide images of the surface topography of a sample and its elemental composition.

The design includes a low vacuum setting for samples that have excessive water content or a non-conductive surface and cannot be viewed at high vacuum. This microscope is equipped with a cold stage, which further extends its ability to look at hydrated (wet) samples.

The purchase of this microscope was funded by a Major Instrumentation Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Light Microscopes

Zeiss AxioObserver inverted fluorescence microscope. This is a very flexible system that allows users to examine a wide range of samples including live cells. The system also allows users to make time lapse movies.

Supportive Equipment

• Ultra-microtomes for preparing sections for transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
• Critical point dryer for preparation of SEM samples
• Gold sputter coater
• Vacuum evaporator

Contact Information

Andrew G. Maselli
Facility Director
Department of Biological Sciences
Chicago State University
9501 S. King Drive/ SCI 310
Chicago, IL 60628
Phone: 773-995-3298
Fax: 773-995-3759

 

Prairie Garden

Chicago State University is part of a wider community dedicated to helping preserve one of North America’s most imperiled ecosystems, the Tallgrass Prairie. A prairie is a landscape dominated by grasses, yet contains numerous flowering plants. In 1820, Illinois contained 22 million acres of prairie along with 14 million acres of forest, leading to the state nickname of “The Prairie State.” However, by the early 1900s, most prairies had been plowed for agriculture and were destroyed. In Illinois today, there is less than 2,500 acres remaining, or 0.01% of the original prairie landscape.

Did you know that the world grasslands, including the North American prairie, are the most endangered ecosystem in the world? In the United States and Canada, 99% of the prairie is gone. The remaining original prairie, called remnants, exists in small pockets, and are often under a few acres in size, leading to the loss of plant, animal and insect species.

Today, Chicago State University is helping reverse this trend by planting native prairie plants in its 3.5-acre prairie garden and bird habitat. The over 80 native grasses, flowering plants, trees and shrubs provide the habitat needed for native butterflies (including monarchs) and birds. These plants also help the community by removing pollutants from the air and by utilizing their deep root systems, flooding is reduced because native plants absorb more water than turf grass.

History of the Prairie Garden

In 2003, Dr. Timothy Bell received an Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) grant to install the prairie garden on campus. Dr. Potluri obtained a second IDNR grant and appointed a volunteer coordinator, Ms. Kelly Borger, who entered the prairie garden in the citywide competition. Since this time, through the help of volunteers, students and additional grants, a bird habitat was created, a compost station for weeds was installed, as were bat and bluebird houses. Volunteers work to maintain the path system, remove weedy plants that do not belong in the prairie, collect seeds, grow native plants in the greenhouse and plant them in the prairie. Students have also conducted research on the soil, plants and insects that are using the prairie.

Grants and Partners

• Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)
• Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)
• Urban Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (USTEP)

Contact Information

Department of Biological Sciences
Email: jgana@csu.edu
Phone: 773-995-2183