Department of Ecological, Plant and Animal Sciences facilities
Our facilities offer students modern and interactive learning experiences and support the groundbreaking work of our researchers.
Our staff and students have access to superb natural habitats in the University's Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary, a 30 hectare natural laboratory on the Bundoora Campus.
Our learning environments and on-campus placement settings give students the opportunity to master the practice-based skills of their profession in a safe and supportive environment.
They also support research capacity, development and partnerships.
Our facilities include:
The Australian Plant Phenomics Network node at La Trobe University operates as part of the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food.
Our extensive facilities provide academic researchers and commercial organisations with the capacity to rapidly, accurately and objectively assess plant performance using non-destructive digital technologies.
This means research crops can be assessed repeatedly through their entire growth phase, to provide a valuable temporal dimension to the plant performance data.
Our glasshouses, controlled environments and growing-on areas for the cultivation of plants used in ecological experiments and applied species conservation research.
The herbarium is a research collection of more than 25,000 vascular plant specimens from across Australia, with specimens linked to fully searchable national online databases.
It is used by students, staff and professional botanists. It is available for use most weekdays, however the curator must be contacted before visiting.
The Herbarium is currently developing a database of all specimens in the collection, using the software Specify. Collections data are available via Australia's Virtual Herbarium and the Atlas of Living Australia, making our collection data available worldwide.
The Herbarium has the support of the Atlas of Living Australia and the National Herbarium of Victoria for this project, and has received external funding from the Bjarne K Dahl Trust.
For more information, or to make a booking, please contact curator, Alison Kellow.
The La Trobe Bioimaging Platform features state-of-the-art equipment for light and electron microscopy, as well as flow cytometry for high-end cell isolation and analysis.
Find out more about the Platform.
Plant science spaces at La Trobe support research from molecular and cell biology to whole-plant physiology.
Predominantly based in the AgriBio building, this dedicated space features fully equipped PC2 and quarantine laboratories; tissue culture space and growth rooms, including space for algal culture; controlled environment cabinets; quantitative PCR machines; Zeiss confocal laser scanning microscope and spatial omics.
Our laboratory supports soil chemistry and soil microbiology.
Our equipment includes inductively coupled Plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES); CHNS analyser; Flow-injection autoanalyser for nitrate/ammonium analysis; TOC analyser for determination of total soluble organic carbon and infra-red gas analyser.