Immunology Core Laboratory
The KVI houses an Immunology Core Laboratory (ICL) that is available to affiliated researchers. The ICL provides services that allow testing of immunogenicity including antibodies, cytokine measurements, and analysis of cell mediated immune responses for the identification of correlates of protection.
The laboratory capabilities of the ICL are described below:
The Cell Culture Suite
The cell culture suite of the immunology core is accessible to affiliated researchers to conduct cellular analysis. It houses two NuAire LabGard Class II, Type A2 biological safety cabinets (on the left) and two NuAire air jacketed CO2 incubators (on the right). It sustains study designs based on infectious pathogens and eukaryotic primary and immortalized cells.
The CTL Ultimate Immunospot
The CTL Ultimate provides a high magnification ELISpot analysis platform that allows automated quantification of cytokine or antibody secreting cells in both visual light and fluorescent channels. In addition, viral plaques and colony counts can be measured in multi plate formats. It features:
- 4 fluorescent channels
- Multi well format (6/384), slides
MSD QuickPlex multiplex plate reader
The Quickplex is a light based (ECL detection) plate reader that allows the measurement of ten different cytokines or secreted proteins in a 96 well format. It provides assays with a large dynamic range (>105) and sensitivity (0.05 to 1 pg/ml) which helps users avoid unnecessary dilution of biological samples.
Molecular Devices SpectraMax i3
The Spectramax i3 is a plate reader with monochromator optics that support standard absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence detection. Time Resolved Fluorescence, HTRF, Fluorescence Polarization, AlphaScreen and Western Blot cartridges are available. An imaging cytometer module is incorporated for qualitative resolution of cell populations.
Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorter BD Fusion
The BD FACSAria™ Fusion is a cell sorter that allows analysis of fluorescent markers in cells and particles and allows the separation of up to four different populations according to the measurement of up to 11 markers. It is enclosed in a Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinet and features an Aerosol Management System to enable the analysis and sorting of BSL-2 samples in a protected environment.
Density Plots
