Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University brings to AMBIC expertise in CHO cell biology, biochemistry, and bioprocessing to improve the yields and quality of valuable commercial biopharmaceuticals including monoclonal antibodies and other recombinant proteins.

Facilities and Infrastructure

AMBIC JHU infrastructure offers state of the art laboratory space and equipment housed in Maryland, Croft and Clark Halls on the Homewood Campuses and the Koch and Smith Buildings of the Medical Campus. Faculty laboratories and offices occupy approximately 10,000 square feet including the most advanced cell biology, bioprocessing equipment, analytics and computational resources used in mammalian cell culture biomanufacturing. Advanced cell culture bioreactors are presently equipped with sensors for dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, and continuous process data acquisition and control. AMBIC laboratories offer state-of-the art analytical instrumentation including seven mass spectrometers (LTQ-orbitrap velos, Q-Exactive orbitrap, TSQ-Vantage Triple Quadrupole, MALDI-TOT/TOF, MALDI-AXIMA Resonance, LCMS-8040 Triple Quadrupole Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer, and qTOF), next-generation and nanopore sequencers, confocal and fluorescence microscopes, analytical flow cytometers, HPLCs, GC-MS, Nanodrop UV-Vis spectrophotometers, ELISA plate readers, bioanalyzers, FPLC, fluorometer, cell culture incubators, biosafety hoods, ultracentrifuges, autoclaves, electroporator, PCR machines, advanced gel electrophoresis, western blot equipment and other molecular biology peripherals. In addition, a number of JHU core resources are available to all AMBIC participants. These core resources include the JHU Genetic Resources Core, Epigenetics and Deep Sequencing Center facilities with next generation high throughput sequencing capabilities including Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq and Ion Torrent devices, robotic scanners, and a PacBio machine for sequencing of the CHO genome. Other resources include flow cytometry and FACS sorting cores for isolating, characterizing, and distinguishing individual mammalian lines. Also available is the Mass Spectrometry-Proteomics Core with advanced mass spectrometric and bioinformatics facilities and the advanced metabolomics facility for characterizing intracellular metabolites. A Microscopy Center with confocal and electron microscopes for advanced cellular analysis is also present. A number of high performance computer systems are available on campus for data mining and bioinformatics analysis including the Maryland Advanced Research Computing Center (MARCC). Finally, AMBIC participating faculty collaborate on multiple research projects and serve as joint graduate thesis committee members that meet frequently to facilitate further intellectual and education exchanges that form the core of AMBIC.