The EEZ has a Category 2 radioactive facility which is authorized, according to point 5 of the Resolution of 29/07/2004, for the storage and use of non-encapsulated radioactive material for research purposes. The isotopes authorized in the Radiochemistry Laboratory are: 3H, 14C, 32P, 33P, 35S, and 125I. (Point 7 of the Resolution of 29-7-2004).
The radiochemistry laboratory has the following facilities:
1. One facility on the first floor of the “Casa Roja” (Red House) on the main site at Calle Profesor Albareda,1 in Granada. The facilities on the main site contain two adjacent spaces: a monitored and a controlled area laboratory. Operations that involve the use of very low radioisotope activities, such as electrophoresis, gel drying, autoradiography, etc are carried out in the monitored area. Operations involving the labelling and storage of radioisotopes and radioactive residues are carried out in the controlled area. The Radiochemistry Laboratory is equipped with Geiger-Müller contamination detectors, a scintillation counter, a thermocycler, a hybridization oven, a freezer, a refrigerator and suitable radiation protection equipment. It also has the equipment required for DNA labelling, hybridization of DNA and RNA, autoradiography, tests on the incorporation of radioisotopes into plant cells and micro-organisms, among others.
2. One laboratory, also owned by the EEZ, numbered nº 116, at the site in Armilla in the Institute of Animal Nutrition (currently being formed) in the Calle Camino del Jueves, s/n in Armilla (Granada). The facility at this site is made up of a single laboratory, and although it is suitable for carrying out the aforementioned operations, it mainly used for the determination of animal hormones by radioimmune assays (RIA) with 125I. It also has the instruments required for the detection of radiation, and the materials for radio protection and storage of residues/waste products.
Mr. Narciso Algaba is the general supervisor of this laboratory.