Manager - microQUANT Core Facility
Office: N-652 Lab: S-632/33
Institute of Human Virology
725 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 706-4647
Fax: (410) 706-4694Office for Research and Graduate Studies (ORAGS)

uQUANT Facility, IHV’s Core Laboratory

Scientific Objectives:   The uQUANT Core Laboratory was established in 1996 to facilitate Virology and Immunology research by reducing unit costs for ELISA assays and Viral Neutralization assays.  It has expanded to include many additional services including recombinant protein production and purification, antibody production and assay establishment, a variety of cell biology assays, cell growth services and real time PCR.

Staffed by experienced, GLP trained staff, in dedicated laboratories the microQUANT Facility has all the amenities required to perform fast, accurate analysis of your biological specimens

Directors:    
   
Melissa Fratine, MS
Manager - microQUANT Core Facility
Office: N-652 Lab: S-632/33
Institute of Human Virology
725 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 706-4647
Fax: (410) 706-4694

Web Site:        http://www.ihvcorelab.com/
Hours:             Monday through Friday 7.30am – 6:00pm

Services                                           (Average Turnaround Time)                                   Instrumentation:

ELISA Assays                                    (24-48 hours)                          Mol. Devices SpectraMax M2

Luminex Assays                                  (24 hours)                              Bio-Rad BioPlex system

ELISpots                                             (Depends on method used)    ImmunoSpot plate reader

Viral Neutralization Assays                   (1-2 weeks)                            N/A

Cell/Virus supply                                  (24 hours)                              N/A

Recombinant Protein Prod/Purif             (Inquire)                                 multiple growth & purification systems

Assay Development                              (Inquire)                                 Immuno/Enzyme, Color/Flour/Lux

RT PCR                                               48 hours                                BioRad IQ5

Staff (areas of expertise):

Melissa Fratine: All Services, Manages Facility

Erin Gutierrez: All services, Lead for Virus production and assays, Cell assays, Tissue Culture

Minal Nade: All services, Lead for ELISA assays and Repository services

Faculty Advisory Committee:  George Lewis, Ph.D., Tony DeVico, Ph.D., Marv Reitz, Ph.D., Wuyuan Lu, Ph.D.

Satisfied Customers: George Lewis, Ph.D., Tony DeVico, Ph.D., Marv Reitz, Ph.D., Wuyuan Robert Redfield, M.D., Kathryn Squib, Ph.D.,

Pricing Examples (As of 10/15/05): Note we reserve the right to change prices at any time.

ELISA assays:

HIV-1 p24 (PE BioSystems)-$22 per strip, $200 per plate

HIV-1 p24 (‘Homebuilt’)-$100 whole plate, $71 half plate

HIV-1 gp120- $110 whole plate, $80 half plate

Commercial kits-$50 setup + $50 per plate

We recommend & supply R&D Systems ELISA kits at a steep discount

BioPlex (Luminex) assays:  -prices are examples only. Email for your specific targets.

Single Plex, Human Cytokine-$480 per plate, email for less than a full plate

17 Plex, Human Cytokines-$1450 per plate, email for less than a full plate

23 Plex, Mouse Cytokines-$1850 per plate, email for less than a full plate

We currently recommend & use Bio-Rad reagents. Custom array prices on request.

Our system uses any ‘Luminex’ reagent from Bio-Rad, Upstate, BioSource, or R&D Systems.

Quantitative-Real Time PCR

SYBR-Green Detection-$100 for std curve, $12 per sample (duplicate sample + single spiked well)

Multiplex TaqMan-$118 for std curve, $33 per sample (duplicate sample + single spiked well)

i.e., HIV-1/HCV/HBV), HIV-1 entry/RT/nuclear transport, HIV-1/SIV viral load

Virus Stock (HIV-1, stable at 4^oC for 6 months)

50,000 PBMC TCID’s: $130 per vial (1ml)

Viral Neutralization Assays

HIV-1, PBMC: $365.00/ first sample, $335 ea. Additional sample

HIV-1, Cell Line: $200.00/ first sample, $180 ea. Additional sample

Vaccinia, Cell Line: $450.00/ first sample, $400 ea. Additional sample

Mycoplasma testing $100/sample

Endotoxin testing, kinetic   $125 for 1^st 12 wells, $125 per additional 24 wells

Vials of frozen cells

Cell Line: $50 per vial

PMBC’s (5e7): $60 per vial

Repository Services

Samples are logged into computer inventory. Freezers are remotely monitored 24/7. If equipment fails technician is paged & redundant capacity is available to transfer samples into. Samples retrieval is provided within 24h of emailed request.

-80, -20: $1.00 per week per 81 place box. 

liq. N₂ (gas phase): $1.00 per week per 81 place box. 

Misc (Charge levied).

iQ5 -5 color Real-Time PCR machine (2 available)   $10.00 per run

iCycler PCR machine                                                 $7.00/run

Bio-Rad Experion RNA/Protein labchip system             $45.00/run (10 protein or 12 RNA samples)

Coulter Z2 particle counter                                          $10.00/sample

Miltenyi AutoMACS magnetic cell separator

            User performs run (‘trained’ users only)            $40.00 setup, $10.00 per sample >1

            Core performs run on labeled cells                   $65.00 setup, $30.00 per sample >1

            Core labels & separates cells                          $100 setup, $50 per sample >1, plus beads

Analytical/semi-Prep/Prep HPLC                                 $32.00 per run, $120 per day max.

Hollow Fiber & Stirred cell Bioreactors                          Inquire

Recombinant protein prod, purif & analysis (CHO, 293, Insect, Yeast, Bacterial) -inquire

RNAi services                                                             Inquire

Antibody Specificity & Kinase profiling/ screens             Inquire

Misc (Available at N/C when not used by Core).

SpectraMax M2 tunable wavelength 6-96 well Fluorescent / Colorimetric kinetic Plate reader

Wallac Victor 2 Multi-analyte plate reader (2 injectors)

Turner BioSystems Veritas Microplate Luminometer (1 injector)

Bio-Rad FX 5 flour image scanner