Containment Level 3 Platform of the Research Institute of the MUHC

McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, Québec
What the facility does

A state-of-the-art, multi-pod facility for studies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Areas of expertise

The RI-MUHC has a multi-pod Containment Level 3 (CL3) Platform for research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza virus and HIV (CL2+). The three independent pods meet the highest safety standards the Canadian Biosafety Standards and Guidelines (PHAC and CFIA) have defined. The facility is available to RI-MUHC researchers, affiliated collaborators and external researchers whose work requires a facility where properly trained users can manipulate various pathogenic organisms. Users of the CL3 Platform must follow the established Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), as defined in the Platform's SOP manual.

Research services

Consultation and training, including safe handling and management of tuberculosis samples, use and access to CL3 TB facility, design of microbiology, immunology, cell culture and small animal experiments, and live cell sorting, inhalation exposure studies

Sectors of application
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
EquipmentFunction
Type II A2 safety cabinets (2)Safe handling of pathogens
Type II B2 biological safety cabinets (6)Safe handling of pathogens
Centrifuges 
IncubatorsStationary, shaking and rolling
Freezers and refrigerators-20, -80°, 4°
CH Technologies Inhalation Exposure System

Acute, sub-chronic and chronic inhalation studies

 

Plas Labs anaerobic glove boxHypoxia chamber provides controlled temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide while maintaining a slight negative pressure
 BTX™ electroporatorTransfection of living tissues
Thermo FastPrep ® cell disrupterDNA-RNA protein isolation
CryostatWell-suited for generation of high-quality frozen tissue sections
BC Accuri™ C6 (immunophenotyping platform)Compact cytometer making flow cytometry more accessible. Easy workflows for popular applications
BD FACSAria™ Fusion Sorter (immunophenotyping platformHigh-speed sorter with a fixed-alignment cuvette flow cell in a biosafety cabinet. Provides multicolour analysis.
TECAN spectrophotometerMultimode microplate readers with access to a full range of detection methods
  • McGill University