Research infrastructure

Summary

The HUN-REN CER campus in Vácrátót has a recently installed, but now routinely operating, molecular biology laboratory, which is capable of processing, at the DNA level, biological samples collected in the field, in accordance with the requirements of modern ecology. Many research directions require the detection of genetic variation between ecologically interacting individuals, populations or species, or the identification of different taxa by genetic markers. The main profile of the molecular laboratory in Vácrátót is the detection of mosquito-borne pathogens from the vector and host species involved, and the study of insecticide resistance. Work is carried out in three separate rooms, one of these is the preparatory microscopy laboratory, where species identification, categorization and the pooling of mosquitoes take place. The room for nucleic acid extraction and gel electrophoresis is used for the appropriate preparation of DNA and RNA samples, while the third room is installed with PCR technology for the enzymatic amplification of nucleic acid allowing the genetic detection of different pathogens in the samples.