About the GEM lab
Invisible to the eyes of the most Manaaki Whenua staff is a real gem hiding among its walls! One of our best-kept secrets – essential to our success, accessible via heavily signposted doors, and only to a few dozen people… is a giant molecular laboratory on site in Lincoln! An equally big gem is all our clever people, who make the science happen behind the scary-looking GEM lab doors…
Spread across 230 m2, like an average 4-bedroom house with a double garage, it is comprised of nine interconnected rooms, packed with highly sensitive and ridiculously expensive equipment. If you have ever been inside, you might have noticed its snail-shell like design, which is basically one very long walk-through room slowly curling inwards in 90-degree turns. On your first visit, you might easily mistake it for a large spaceship, as it is full of weird-looking gadgets, shiny buttons, constant humming of large equipment and occasional beeping of something!
What is the GEM lab?
The lab’s name reflects its past, as 20 years ago the walls between three separate labs – Gamete, Eco-tox and Molecular – were removed and a new bigger facility was established. Things are never the same in the GEM lab, and it is very difficult to succinctly describe what scientists do there. As one of the most versatile Research and Development laboratories in New Zealand, the GEM lab is well equipped to tackle many problems. However, it is probably easier to find a type of sample that was not in the lab, than one that was!
Our scientists have seen them all: from our vertebrate pests (cats, rats, possums) to invertebrate biocontrol agents (insects and spiders), from big iconic plants (kauri, rewarewa) to endangered small natives (mountain daisies) and weeds, or even smaller algae, from edible fungi to invisible microbes in soil and nectar, or even viruses. One of our scientists even brought in stones! Some samples come neatly packed in cute plastic bags and smell great, others come as one big stinky mush (think of samples for a microbiome study) or in the form of body parts (for identification) including stomachs (for diet analysis).
DNA is a fingerprint for everything living, so it is relatively easy to tell who is who, and what is what. Our laboratory staff extract DNA (and RNA) from the samples, but this is often just the start! Living in the 21st century is exciting for molecular biologists, since so many amazing things can be done with DNA. Through it we can see almost anything, as it is like a giant looking glass.
The GEM lab is also a containment (PC2 level) and transitional facility which means that MPI trusts us with handling new and hazardous organisms as well as with cloning work. But don't be alarmed – there are no fluorescent frogs in our labs. Cloning is usually used for sequencing tricky DNA segments. Like a hammer or a knife, cloning is just a useful tool, that scientists know how to use responsibly. On top of that, the regular and very thorough MPI inspections make sure that everything is done in the way it should be. Failed audits automatically lead to lab closures, so a lot of effort goes into ensuring that all permits are valid, and researchers have recorded their every move. This is why the GEM lab is the best place for exploring effective and safe responses to all the pests and diseases that threaten our native flora and fauna.
What's on the horizon for the GEM lab?
The molecular biology field is constantly evolving, and our science needs to keep up with these changes in order not to fall behind. The GEM lab has now expanded to a point that the original footprint has become too small for the organisation's needs. A brand new extension is planned to be built next to the existing Insect Quarantine building. The first is the BIOLAB XR project, an extension to the IQ facility that will host a Molecular Biology lab. The second project involves the modernisation of the existing GEM lab. Both endeavors are scheduled for completion by mid-2026. The original GEM lab will then be refurbished and modernised even more.