|
The Biotron: An
Experimental Climate Change Research Facility
A. Singh1 , M. Dixon2
, B. Grodzinski3 , N. Huner4*
1Chetna
Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada, www.chetnaresearch.com
2Dept.
of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada,
N1G 2W1
3Dept.
of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G
2W1
4Dept.
of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A
5B7
*Corresponding
author ([email protected]);
Web:
www.biotron.uwo.ca; www.ces.uoguelph.ca
Overview
The Biotron is a modular,
interdisciplinary, experimental climate change research facility
developed through funding from the Canadian federal government, the
Ontario provincial government, the University of Western Ontario
(Western), the University of Guelph, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (AAFC),
and several foundations and corporate contributors. Construction of the
Biotron started in May 2005 and will be completed in 2007.
Major innovations of the Biotron
include, first, the capacity to assess the impact of climate change on
the interactions of plants, insects, and microorganisms. On the rooftop,
six large, environmentally-controlled mesocosms or Biomes will provide a
realistic location for testing concepts developed on the lab bench or in
growth chambers. Thus, the Biotron enables the integration of
experimental climate change research from the molecular scale to the
mini-ecosystem scale. Second, the Earth Science Biome features a
custom-designed, 6 meter high, controlled environment soil monolith
system which will allow researchers to transport intact, 10,000 kg soil
columns from the field into the facility at experimental containment
temperatures ranging from approximately -30°C to +40°C. Third, all
imaging systems, analytical instruments, and growth chambers from each
module will be integrated through an IT backbone that allows remote
access and control from any web-browser. Last, the Transgenic Module
includes two, federally certified, Containment Level 3 (CL3)
laboratories for work on airborne biohazardous plant and microbiological
pathogens, with a contiguous large, walk-in growth chamber.
The facilities summarized above
represent Phase II of an ongoing multi-stage project. In 1999, Phase I
of the Biotron Project was established as the Controlled Environment
Systems Research Facility (CESRF
www.ces.uoguelph.ca)
located on the campus of the University of Guelph. The primary focus of
the CESRF is the evaluation of plant-based life support systems for
space travel and related terrestrial applications. Research partners
associated with CESRF include the aerospace, chemical, and agricultural
industries. The research mission of the Biotron is to:
-
accelerate our understanding of
the responses to and consequences of global climate change on
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems;
-
support and stimulate the shift
of growth markets towards a “bioeconomy” in the areas of medicine
and agriculture;
-
assess and quantify the potential
environmental benefits and risks associated with emerging
biotechnologies on biodiversity and general ecosystem health. The
resulting deliverable will be a blueprint for long-term, ecosystem
health in conjunction with sustainable economic growth in the
medical and agricultural sectors of the global economy.
-
The research mission will be
accomplished by:
-
integrating research in
environmental biology, medicine and agriculture;
-
providing unprecedented
experimental scale and flexibility with respect to controlled
environment research on organisms as diverse as microbes, plants and
insects in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Research
Modules
The Biotron is a Level 2 containment
facility designed on a modular basis. It serves as a premier research
venue hosting unique Biomes and containment features in addition to
several labs that provide the latest tools in plant, insect, and
microbiological research. The facilities are designed with multiple
air-locks and pressure cascades to prevent cross-contamination between
modules or the release of organisms and pollen to the environment. Each
module contains a fully equipped wet laboratory and serves as staging
areas for experiments in the Biomes and they also support their own
distinct research programs.
Biomes
Available in the Biotron are six
large, custom-designed, environmentally-controlled, roof-top Biomes
exhibiting enhanced Level 2 containment which are designed to allow
multi-disciplinary teams to create and simulate integrated ecosystems
including plants, insects, soil microbes, fungi, and algae. The biomes
combine natural sunlight which either can be augmented by artificial
lighting or reduced by activated, shading systems. Furthermore, all
biomes are equipped with an array of micro-sensors to enable strict
analysis and computer control over factors such as CO ~, temperature,
light intensity, and precipitation.
The Biomes allow researchers working
at the molecular level to scale up experiments to the mini-ecosystem
level. Conversely, they allow ecologists to scale down experiments
performed under variable field conditions to environmentally-controlled
conditions within a biome. Thus, the biomes allow researchers to design
various mesocosms and simulate pertinent climate change scenarios in
order to assess the impact of an array of environmental factors on
plant-soil-insect-microbe interactions, and bio-risk assessment of
emerging biotechnologies and pollutants.
The Earth Sciences module contains a
custom-designed, environmentally-controlled biome in which soil
monoliths (1x1x6m) can be studied from regions as diverse as the Arctic
tundra to modern agricultural fields. The Earth Sciences biome is
suitable for the investigation of climate change on soil structure, soil
hydrology, soil microbiology, as well as plant-soil-microbe
interactions. This specialized biome exhibits dual isolated temperature
zones over two stories, individually programmable in the range of -30°C
to +40°C with surface irradiance ranging from complete darkness to 80%
full sunlight. Ancillary facilities include a central analytical
laboratory with state-of-the-art instrumentation including inductively
coupled plasma, ion chromatography, gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry, and X-ray fluorescence for soil and hydrological analyses.
Central Image
Data Server (CIDS)
A unique feature of the Biotron,
which strengthens its collaboration capabilities, is the capacity to
provide researchers with real-time, world-wide experimental and data
access and management. At the core of the Biotron's scientific
functionality will be its secure, high-speed, web-accessible imaging
database and data analysis system. The system will allow image
acquisition and analytical systems data to be stored, annotated,
retrieved, processed, and accessed on a central server from the
initiating workstation, Biotron computer labs, or remotely through the
internet. Additionally, Biotron computer labs will provide users with
collaboration tools such as video and web conferencing, and access to
high-end image analysis and processing software. Imaging technologies
available in this suite feature the latest in confocal microscopy,
digital light and fluorescence microscopy, transmission electron
microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Contiguous with the
Imaging suite is a spacious central laboratory for sample preparation,
sectioning, coating as well as a cell tissue culture laboratory.
Plant Growth &
Productivity
The components of this module located
at the University of Western Ontario are contiguous with the newly
relocated Environmental Stress Biology Group. The module houses 19
growth cabinets which include custom-designed, ultra-low growth cabinets
which can attain temperatures as low as -20°C at 80% full sunlight and
-40°C in the dark. In addition, specialized controlled growth facilities
are available for modulating CO2 concentrations, temperature,
high light, UV levels and humidity singly or in combination in a
constant or oscillating mode. Enhancing the functionality of these
growth facilities are four new research laboratories that include a core
instrument facility, a state-of-the-art flow cytometry facility, as well
as a new fluorescence spectroscopy imaging facility. The CESRF component
of this module includes 8 custom-designed, controlled environment growth
rooms capable of providing temperatures ranging from -20°C to +40°C,
irradiance ranging from complete darkness to 80% full sunlight to assess
plant canopy gas exchange. This enables the continuous and non-invasive
measurement of plant growth and biomass production.
Insects
The Insect module is designed to
allow research on the propagation and experimentation on a diverse array
of insects such as drosophila, aphids, mites, mosquitoes, bees, moths,
butterflies and caterpillars via a series specialized colony rearing and
experimental growth chambers which can mimic habitats as diverse as the
Arctic, desert, and tropical regions. The research enabled by this biome
includes the study of the effects of environmental change on the
interactions between plants, herbivores, and natural pest predators. In
addition, this module provides a basis for the development of insect
pest and disease vector control technologies through chemical ecology
and/or biotechnology.
Transgenic
Plants
The Transgenic Plant module provides
facilities that will not only enable basic research in the use of
transgenic plants to study plant growth, development, and productivity,
but will also enable scientists and industrial partners to assess the
ecosystem risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on wild,
endemic species. The facilities contain advanced tools for the
development of novel GMOs in molecular farming, which consists of
genetically engineering plants to produce therapeutic or nutritional
substances such as vaccines, antibodies, proteins, enzymes and polymers.
Included in this area are six walk-in transgenic growth rooms, a
specialized pesticide delivery laboratory, a seed storage room, a
general media preparation room, a cell transfer laboratory, a large
transformation laboratory, and two Level 3 containment laboratories.
Microbiology
The Microbiology Module enables a
diverse array of research including the examination of the origins of
human pathogens and their progression from the soil to human diseases as
well as microbial molecular ecology, biodiversity, and global
biogeography. The laboratories provide excellent cryogenic facilities to
culture and preserve newly discovered species of soil, airborne, as well
as insect-borne fungi. A separately contained laboratory for mould
research minimizes potential contamination of other micro-organisms with
fungal spores. An important feature of this module is the presence of 48
specialized incubators providing unique temperature gradients for
microbial growth. In the context of global warming, this is essential to
establish a firm understanding of the role of temperature in determining
the geographical distribution of large numbers of microbial isolates as
well as the role of temperature in regulating microbe-insect-plant
interactions important in maintaining natural vegetation, crop
productivity and plant biodiversity.
The Future Phase III
Phase III, to be centered in Guelph
adjacent to the existing CESRF, involves the development of larger scale
autonomous robotic greenhouses. It endeavors to develop innovative
robotics technologies that can be applied to the production of
greenhouse crops for human consumption and molecular farming while
augmenting controlled environment technologies toward the goal of
completely sealed greenhouses. This has relevance in that it will seek
to alleviate the significant labor and energy demands of the burgeoning
greenhouse industry, while creating biological life-support technologies
for manned interplanetary missions. |
