REGIONAL BIOCONTAINMENT LABORATORY
About the BRL
GeorgeMasonUniversity?sBiomedical ResearchLaboratory (BRL) isacorebiocontainment facility locatedontheinstitution?sSciTech CampusinNorthernVirginia.TheBRLservesasacenter for scientificcollaborationtoadvanceknowledgeof pathogenbiology andhost interactionmechanismsandtodevelopnovel diagnostics, therapeutics,andvaccinesagainst viral andbacterial infectious agents.Full serviceresearchsupport isavailablefor internal and external investigators.TheBRLhasavariety of establishedanimal models,withanemphasisonaerosolizedexposures, organ-on-a-chipmicrophysiological systems,andadvanced equipment for invitroandinvivoimagingandmolecular analysis. Thefacility isfully approvedandlicensedfor work by theCDC. Mason'sAnimal CareandUseProgramisfully accreditedby the Associationfor theAssessment andAccreditationof Laboratory Animal Care,International (AAALAC).Masonisregisteredasa researchfacility withtheU.S.Department of Agriculturein accordancewiththeAnimal WelfareAct andall amendmentsand holdsaCategory 1 AssurancewiththePublicHealthService (throughtheNIH'sOfficeof Laboratory Animal Welfare).
Mason?sBRL isone of 12 regional biocontainment laboratories established through the National Institute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases?(NIAID) support. Asa member of the NIAID regional and national biocontainment lab network of institutions located across the United States, we collectively share best practices, resources, and expertise to drive cutting-edge pathogen research and rapidly addressemerging infectiousdisease outbreaks. The BRL is situated in the Biohealth Capital Region (BHCR), a prominent biohealth cluster ranked #3 nationally and located in the mid-Atlantic.
Training the future workforce to safely and appropriately handle infectiousagents and conduct innovative research in BSL-3 environmentsisa top priority at the BRL. Undergraduate and graduate students, as well aspost-doctoral fellows, learn firsthand how to answer complex problemsand develop solutions to combat diseasesof national and global concern while maintaining compliance with safety and security protocols.
Translationof scientificdiscoveriesisparamount for deployingnew technologiesfor humanandveterinary health.Innovativeresearch conductedby Masonfaculty,students,andtheir collaboratorshasled tothedevelopment of threebiotechcompanies,whichdevelop infectiousdiseasecountermeasuresandlaboratory productsfor studyingpathogens:CeresNanosciences,Virongy,andacquired start-up,AexeRNA.
Available Pathogens
PathogenstheBRLiscurrently registeredtowork withare:
- Bacillusanthracis
- Yersinia pestis
- Francisella Tularensis
- Burkholderia pseudomallei
- Brucella abortus
- Rickettsia prowazekii
- Burkholderia mallei
- Brucella melitensis
- VEEV, EEV, and WEEV
- Rift Valley Fever Virus
- West Nile Virus
- Dengue Virus
- Chikungunya
- SARS-CoV-2
Work withadditional BSL-2 andBSL-3 pathogensof interest canbe supporteduponrequest.
Virology and Bacteriology Services
Thevirologyandbacteriology coreoffersanarray of specialized servicesandtechnical expertise.Someservicesofferedincludeviral andbacterial propagationandtitration,viral andbacterial characterizationandsequencing,plaqueassay andviral neutralization assays,minimuminhibitory concentration(MIC)tests,infection studies,andmedical countermeasureassessments.
Advanced Animal Research Core (AAR)
TheAARcoreoffersaccessandsupport toresearchersinterested inanimal model studies.Technical expertsareavailablefor protocol development,animal husbandry/care,breeding,andresearchstudy planningandexecution.Thisstate-of-the-art coresitswithinan AAALAC-accreditedvivariumwithdedicatedBSL-2 andBSL-3 animal holdingrooms,procedurerooms,anaerobiology suite,anda fully equippedsurgical suite.Inadditiontothecutting-edge facilitieswithbrandnew cagingsystemstoholdmice,rats, hamsters,rabbits,andferrets,theAARcoreprovidesaccessto advancedinstrumentationandequipment for liveanimal imaging andhistology.
Animal Imaging
Theanimal imagingcoreisequippedwiththeSpectral InstrumentsLago-XIn-VivoImagingSystem(IVIS)for bioluminescence/fluorescencevisualization,theMediso MulticanLFER150 for PET/CTscanning,andtheFuji Vevo-Xfor photoacousticandultrasoundimaging.The suiteof equipment enablesuserstodevelopnew imagingtechniquesandincorporatecontrast agentsto addressemergingresearchneeds
Aerobiology
Theaerobiology suitehousesagermfreeClassIII hoodlineequippedwiththeBiaeraaerosol generation system.Thesetupallowsfor nose-only or whole-body exposureof animalswithBSL-2 andBSL-3 aerosolized pathogens,thetestingof aerosolizeddelivery of therapeuticsandvaccines,andthedetectionof aerosolizedpathogens.
Histology
Histologyservicesincludenecropsy of desiredtissues, paraffinembedding,andtissuesectioning,staining,and imaging.
Microphysiological Systems Core (MPS)
Themicrophysiological systems(MPS)coreoffersaccessto organ-on-a-chipplatformsandtissueorgansystemstostudy human diseasesunder realisticphysiological conditions TheBRLisuniquely positionedtodeliver infectiousdiseasemodelsusinginvitro organ/tissueplatformsthat canbedeployedinhighcontainment for preclinical drugdevelopment.
Other Core Services
Molecular Characterization
Themolecular coreincludesinstrumentationfor automatednucleic acidandproteinisolation,quantitativePCR(qPCR),digital PCR (dPCR),westernblot,next-generationsequencing,molecular interactionstudies(SPR),real-timecell analysis,andnano-particle characterization.
Microscopy and Flow Cytometry
Theimagingandcytometry coreoffersaccesstostate-of-the-art equipment for wide-fieldfluorescent microscopy,confocal microscopy, livecell imaging,super-resolutionmicroscopy,laser capture microdissection,flow cytometry,andcell sorting.
