As of fall 2018, WSU has a new growth chamber-based plant phenotyping facility. This state-of-the-art PhenoCenter was installed by LemnaTec in Johnson Hall. The platform is aimed to provide high-throughput phenotype screening for small plants and larger crop plant seedlings. The capabilities of the machine include RGB imaging for quantifying growth rates and greenness, chlorophyll fluorescence imaging to quantify photosynthetic efficiency and plant stress, bioluminescence imaging (e.g. from Luciferase, or Aequorin assays), narrow band shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging at 1450 nm for water content, and 3D scanning for capturing canopy structure.
The facility will be operated without fees for an initial phase-in period and free access to the instrumentation will be handled though a competitive proposal process. Generous support from the Murdock Foundation and WSU allows the facility to be staffed with a manager that is tasked with making sure you get the most out of your experiment including optimizing the phenomics setup and image analysis! Get in touch with Dominik at dominik.schneider@wsu.edu to discuss your ideas and he will help guide you through the preparation required for a successful proposal and experiment. To apply, we request the potential user prepare a two-page project description that includes background, experimental design of the study to be conducted, the importance of phenomics for the work, and how the results would extend existing research activities. We envision these experiments as pilot studies to help acquire funding for future experiments that contribute towards supporting the facility.
We are generally targeting experiments of up to 2 weeks in order to provide time for various projects, but arrangements can be made for longer experiments at the manager’s discretion.
Contact dominik.schneider@wsu.edu to begin preparing your proposal today! Scheduling of facility time will be rolling.
