University of Missouri Regional Biocontainment Laboratory

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Contact Information

Director: Jeffrey J. Adamovicz, Ph.D.
Email: adamoviczj@missouri.edu
Website: http://www.rbl.missouri.edu/

Animal Capabilities, including species and containment level(s)

Currently available at BSL3/ABSL3 level

  • Mice
  • Rats
  • Guinea pigs
  • Rabbits/ferrets

Animal Models, including species, disease, and delivery methods

Current Animal Models Available

  • Mouse – Bacillus anthracis, IN, SC, Aerosol
  • Rabbit – B. antracis, In, SC, Aerosol
  • Guinea pig – B. anthracis, SC, Aerosol
  • Mouse – Brucella spp., Oral, IN, IP, Aerosol
  • Mouse – Coxiella burnetti, IP, Aerosol
  • Guinea pig – C. burnetti, IP, Aerosol
  • Mouse – Francisella tularensis, Oral, IN, IP, ID, SC, Aerosol
  • Mouse – Orientia tsutsugamushi, IP
  • Mouse – Yersinia pestis, SC, ID, IN, Aerosol, Flea
  • Rat – Y. pestis, SC, ID, IN, Aerosol

Animal Models in Development

  • Mouse – Mycobacterium tuberculosis, IN, Aerosol
  • Mouse – Influenza virus HPAI, IN, Aerosol
  • Ferret – Influenza virus, Low and HPAI, IN, Aerosol

Mosquitoes: Maintaining arbovirus-infected (mosquito) vectors in a BSL-3 containment. Dissecting vector tissues, performing virus detection assays on mosquito tissues. Infection includes Chickungunya, oral, IT.; Dengue, oral, IT.; Sindbis, oral, IT.

Pathogens

Existing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approval

  • Tier 1: B. anthracis, botulin toxin-producing strains of Clostridium botulinum, Burkholderia pseudomaelli, F. tularensis, Y. pestis
  • Non-Tier 1: C. burnetti, B. abortus, suis and melitensis, T2 toxin
  • ​Non-select Agents with BSL-3 containment: Coccidioides immitis, chickungunya virus, dengue virus, heartland virus, O. tsutsugamushi, sindbis virus, mayaro virus.

Imaging capabilities

Olympus and Nikon Eclipse fluorescent microscopes

Laboratory and analytical support

  • Immunology services: MoFlo 3 laser flow cytometry, cell sorting, ELISA, ELISPOT, post-mortem cytokine/chemokine analysis on high-throughput Luminex platform
  • Pathology services: Necropsy, gross pathology, histology, immunohistochemistry, muscle, renal, liver and serum clinical chemistry profiles over seen by board certified laboratory animal veterinarians and clinical and anatomic pathologists.
  • Microbiology services: Growth and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of B. anthracis, Brucella spp, B. pseudomallei, chickungunya virus, C. burnetti phase I& II, dengue virus, F. tularensis, O. tsutsugamushi, Sindbis virus, and Y. pestis. Post-mortem analysis of pathogens in tissues, including culture and real time PCR. DNA manipulation, PCR, and others on demand. Cell culture: tissue- and cell-culture capabilities

Ability To Accommodate cGLP or cGMP Studies?

Ability to accommodate cGLP. No current cGMP capacity.

Specialized Areas or Major Equipment Available

A three laser MoFLo XDP cell sorter, CH technologies nose-only animal inhalation exposure systems, untracentrifuge, PCR services, electroporators, thermocycler, cell- and tissue-culture incubators, Class III, Class IIa and Class IIb Biosafety cabinets. All operational and available in a BSL-3/ABSL-3 environment.

Shared Resources That Amplify and Expand Research Capabilities

  • Cell and Immuno-biology Core provides services for tissue culture, hybridoma preparation and monoclonal antibody preparation. In addition, it has five state-of-the-art flow cytometry instruments.
  • DNA Core offers high throughput and routine DNA sequencing, genotyping and analysis of DNA fragments, genomic variation and gene expression.
  • Electron Microscopy Core has multiple instruments for scanning and transmission electron microscopy.
  • Informatics Research Core serves the bioinformatics needs of researchers at MU.
  • Molecular Cytology Core – Confocal and related microscopy for wide field light microscopy, laser-capture microdissection and image analysis.
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Core provides sophisticated NMR capabilities. Five multinuclear, Fourier-transform instruments are available, operating at 800 MHz, 600 MHz, 500 MHz, 300 MHz and 250 MHz.
  • Charles W. Gehrke Proteomics Center has multiple mass spectrometers plus expertise to perform all aspects of contemporary proteomic studies as well as mass spectrometry of individual proteins.
  • Structural Biology Core provides for structural biology research and structural biology computation. In addition it manages a peptide synthesis service.
  • Macromolecular X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory: State of the art X-ray diffraction equipment for the analysis of macromolecular crystals is housed in the Elmer O. Schlemper X-Ray Diffraction Center
  • Transgenic Animal Core can create transgenic mice by pronuclear injection and stem cell targeting.
  • Metagenomics Center provides services associated with the characterization of complex microbial communities including DNA extraction and next-generation sequencing, as well as re-derivation of genetically manipulated rodents to generate animals harboring a desired complex microbiota.
  • Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory is a full-service laboratory accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). The VMDL provides laboratory diagnostic support including anatomic and clinical pathology, bacteriology and mycology, histopathology, serology, toxicology, and virology and molecular diagnostics.
  • Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center
  • National Rat Resource and Research Center
  • National Swine Resource and Research Center
  • Feline Genetics Laboratory
  • Canine Genetic Disease Testing Laboratory
Content last reviewed on November 14, 2016