Contact
For information on growth chamber rentals contact Lisa Tewksbury (Ph.D.), Research Associate, lisat@uri.edu, 401-874-2750.
The University of Rhode Island Greenhouse Growth Chamber Facility provides environmental growth chambers and incubators to CELS and the greater URI community for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates to conduct research when a highly controlled experimental environment is required.
The Growth Chamber Facility is included as part of the greenhouse cost center to fund supplies essential to its operation (lights, Co2 tanks, etc.), repair equipment, provide preventative maintenance, and replace equipment within the facility as needed.
All eight available growth chambers are numbered and described below. They are located in Room 120 of the URI Greenhouse (6 Greenhouse Rd.) unless otherwise indicated.
- Conviron Environmental Growth Chamber PGR 15
- Currently not available
- Conviron Environmental Growth Chamber PGR 15 with CO2 regulation
- Conviron Environmental Growth Chamber PGR15 with CO2 regulation
- Conviron Environmental Growth Chamber ATC 40
- Percival Incubator 136LL
- Percival Incubator 136LL (in URI biocontrol containment facility)
- Percival Incubator 136LL (in URI biocontrol containment facility)
- Percival Incubator 136LL (in URI biocontrol containment facility)
Units 1 and 5 are larger units appropriate for larger experiments requiring temperature, light, and humidity control.
Units 3 and 4 regulate temperature and light and have the capability to regulate CO2 levels for experiments related to climate change, although they can be used without regulating CO2.
Units 6 through 9 are smaller units appropriate for smaller experiments requiring temperature and light control. These units are good for tissue culture, rearing insects, and seed germination. Only incubator 6 is currently available for non-containment experiments. Incubators 7, 8, and 9 are in URI’s USDA certified biological control containment facility and are only available to trained personnel with projects requiring a containment facility.
Scheduling and Billing for Equipment Usage:
The use of this equipment will be scheduled and managed by Lisa Tewksbury, Director of the URI Biocontrol lab. Use and fees will be scheduled on a weekly basis, and a calendar will be kept for each piece of equipment. Users will be billed monthly for each week of use by conducting weekly inventories of the use of each piece of equipment.
2024 Growth Chamber Rental Rates:
- Conviron chambers 1, 3, 4, and 5 (without CO2): $39.15/weekly
- Conviron chambers 3 and 4 (with CO2): $46.36/weekly
- Percival incubators 6, 7, 8, and 9: $8.28/weekly
The following benefits are provided to users of this facility:
- A week’s operation of the scheduled piece of equipment
- Assistance in programming the equipment to operate as per user’s instructions
- Assistance with the experimental setup
- Maintenance of operation of equipment and lights
- Repair of equipment when required
- Access to the greenhouse soil room for planting, and assistance in obtaining supplies such as pots, and planting media
- Occasional emergency assistance with basic maintenance of experiments if requested by user, such as irrigation and fertilizing
- A distiller is available in Room 120 to obtain distilled water for experiments
- An autoclave is available in Room 120 for sterilizing media or lab ware, or to discard materials, such as invasive plant species
- A sink is available in Room 120 for access to hot and cold water, and some laboratory safety items ae available in nearby Room 121 such as eye wash, first aid kit, laboratory gloves, etc.
- Tables for conducting tasks associated with research
The following are the responsibility of users of equipment within this facility:
- Communication with Lisa Tewksbury to schedule experiments in a particular piece of equipment, which includes prompt updates about any changes to the schedule
- All setup, daily monitoring, and teardown of experiments when the term has ended,
- Providing all supplies needed for the experiment within the chamber
- Immediate notification of all repair issues with equipment
- Maintaining a clean chamber and a clean environment in the growth chamber room (Room 120)
- Final removal of all materials and cleaning of the chamber when your term of use has ended
