Capabilities

The UCLA Global Bio Lab has been designed to have multiple capabilities and is a modular facility that will be capable of fully characterizing up to 10,000 influenza samples per year in everyday research mode. In emergency response mode (outbreak and/or pandemic), the facility will be capable of processing and partially characterizing up to 3,000 samples per day and enable 24/7 surge operations.

Accessioning: The accessioning system will perform initial processing of specimens that may include dilution, concentration, lyses, and aliquoting of samples into sealed, single use vials for preservation and testing.

Biobanking: The biobanking system will store up to up to 800,000 samples at -80C. This system will provide a facility for the preservation of national and international samples and enable rapid automated reorganization of samples for specific testing or collaborative research.

Screening: The screening system will use real time polymerase chain reaction-based assays (PCR) to detect, quantify, and partially characterize possible pathogens in samples. This system will also be used to process nucleic acid extracts for 1st and 2nd generation sequencing.

Genotyping: The Genotyping system of the High Throughput Lab Network prepares the nucleic acid extract for sequencing. PCR amplification and capillary array-based analyzers will generate partial and/or whole genome sequences.

Sample Collection with Handheld devices: Portable handheld prototype devices, enabled with a GPS transceiver, digital camera/barcode reader, voice recognition, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and containing project specific data forms, will be available to field researchers to facilitate data management, lab analysis, and informatics.

Bioinformatics: The bioinformatics system integrates lab testing results with epidemiological and other pertinent meta-data for analysis, visualization, and presentation, in order to enhance sharing of information across the research community.

Automated Lab Management System: The IT system will integrate and control most functions of the Global Bio Lab automated operations from sample receipt through results reporting to meta-data analysis and modeling. GBL will allow information to be uploaded and/or downloaded on a 24/7 basis using virtually any type of computing platform such as smart phones, laptops, desktops, and mainframes.