Plant growth chamber facility

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Research of all prospective users urgently depends on additional area to grow plants pest-free under stable and highly reproducible conditions (illumination, temperature, humidity). Particularly in the Cell Biology Division, access to plant growth area of this quality is representing a major bottle-neck. Arabidopsis, tobacco, tomato and pharmaceutical plants need to be grown in a pest-free, tightly controlled environment for the following purposes: genetic transformation, phenotypic characterization, analysis of transcript, protein and metabolite levels, electrophysiology as well as investigation of stress responses and plant-pathogen interactions. Ground plan and equipment of the requested plant growth chamber facility could be designed to meet current and foreseeable future requirements of all users, as the favored supplier offers customer-specified dimensions and many equipment options. The chief-engineer of this supplier has already built numerous reliably running plant growth chamber facilities, including one installed in 2006/7 for the Biochemistry Division of our Department. Because the favored supplier builds growth chamber facilities from German parts and shares design details, maintenance and repair can be commissioned to subcontractors to save follow-up costs. Maintenance costs can be further reduced by opting for LED illumination systems developed by the favored supplier, which consume half the energy and have a 10x longer life time than traditional systems. Extensive test we have performed have shown that these LED systems support plant growth at least as well as conventional illumination systems.