Conducts applied research in the areas of cancer vaccines, biomarker discovery and immune-based inflammatory processes in tumour development
The Integrated Molecular Biology Laboratory (IMBL) enables research faculty to conduct applied research in the areas of cancer vaccines, biomarker discovery and immune-based inflammatory processes in tumour development. Researchers are also investigating chemical and enzymatic processes to generate biofuels from biological and waste materials.
Researchers at IMBL have diverse expertise in the areas of cancer biology, immunology, molecular biology, protein and lipid biochemistry, plant cell biology. Biotechnology applications include cell line engineering for controlled gene expression and protein production, cell-based assay development (with a focus on inflammatory processes) and biofuel production.
- Molecular biology: gene-expression analysis (RT-PCR), protein purification and analyses
- Cell biology: animal cell culture, cell line engineering (CHO, HEK-293), tumour biology using cell-based assays that assess morphology, migration and invasion of cells
- Plant biotechnology: cultivation of plant cells, embryos, seedlings and cultivars; histology
- Biofuels: algae propagation, biofuel production from waste materials using chemical and enzymatic processes
- Agriculture, animal science and food
- Clean technology
- Education
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Specialized labs and equipment
| Specialized facility | Equipment | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Level II Cell Culture Lab | Four biological safety cabinets | Culture of Level II cell lines or tissues |
| Four laminar flow hoods | Culture of plant or rodent cells and tissues | |
| Four CO2 incubators | Culture of animal cells | |
| Three inverted microscopes | Routine viewing of cell-culture flasks, dishes or plates under visible light | |
| Three epifluorescence microscopes | Viewing fluorescently labelled cells | |
| Epifluorescence imaging system | Capturing images of cells labelled with fluorescent probes | |
| Molecular Biology Labs | Multilabel (Envision) plate reader | Plate-based assays involving fluorescence, UV or visible absorbance |
| Bioanalyzer instrument (Agilent) | Nucleic acid or protein quantification and quality assessment | |
| Real-time PCR (ABI 3130) instrument | Quantitative PCR in microtubes or 96-well plates | |
| Flow Cytometer (Guava) | Analysis and quantification of fluorescently-labeled cell populations | |
| Microarray scanner | Comparative gene-expression analysis | |
| FPLC (GE AKTA) | Liquid chromatography system for protein purification | |
| Beckman DU800 spectrophotometer | Kinetic or static measurement of biological samples by UV or visible absorbance | |
| Nanodrop spectrophotometer | Measurement of 1 uL to 2 uL of biological samples by UV or visible absorbance | |
| Plant and Food Material Preparation | Plant growth room | Controlled light and temperature for propagation of seedlings |
| Greenhouse (appx 150 sf) | Cultivation of plants | |
| Supercritical CO2 fluids extractor | Preparation of biologically active cellular fractions from plant (or other) tissues | |
| Large-volume speed vacuum system | Concentration and drying of biological samples (0.5 mL-50 mL volumes) |
Private and public sector research partners
- Proteomics Core Facility, Centre for High-Throughput Biology, The University of British Columbia
- iPROGEN Biotech Inc.
- Novation Pharmaceuticals
- Lignol Energy