Integrated Molecular Biology Laboratory

British Columbia Institute of Technology, Burnaby, British Columbia
What the facility does

Conducts applied research in the areas of cancer vaccines, biomarker discovery and immune-based inflammatory processes in tumour development

Areas of expertise

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.

Research services
  • 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
Sectors of application
  • Agriculture, animal science and food
  • Clean technology
  • Education
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical 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)
  • Proteomics Core Facility, Centre for High-Throughput Biology, The University of British Columbia
  • iPROGEN Biotech Inc.
  • Novation Pharmaceuticals
  • Lignol Energy