Ragon Institute

Biosafety Level 3 Core

The Ragon BSL3 core provides biosafety level-3 laboratory space, training, and consultation for academic and industrial researchers working with risk group-3 pathogens, such as M. tuberculosis, SARS-CoV-2, Chikungunya virus, West Nile virus, Powassan virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, Dabie bandavirus, Heartland virus and Bhanja virus.

Core Overview

The Ragon Institute’s BSL-3 Core provides biosafety level 3 laboratory space, training, and consultation for academic and industrial researchers working with risk group 3 pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, SARS-CoV-2, Chikungunya virus, West Nile virus, Powassan virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, Dabie bandavirus, Heartland virus, Bhanja virus, and others.

Researchers are required to complete 30 hours of BSL-3 specific training to become certified BSL-3 Core users. Training includes special facility containment, BSL-3 specific PPE, and safety regulations specific to risk group 3 pathogens.

Amy Barczak, MD

Scientific Director

Julie Boucau, PhD

Co-Director

Yong (Mike) Xie, PhD

Director

Services and Pricing

At 2,200 square feet, the Ragon’s BSL-3 is one of the largest and most heavily used BSL-3 facilities in the region, with an excellent safety track record. The lab is equipped with dedicated 12-color high-speed cell sorter and microscopy equipment, as well as cell culture hoods and standard cell and molecular biology resources.

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High-speed cell sorter

BD FACS Aria III 3 lasers (12 colors), four-way sorting into tubes or plates

Multi-mode plate reader

Molecular Devices Spectramax ID3 Fluorescence, absorbance and luminescence. Housed in a biosafety cabinet, dedicated to viral work.

Evos FLoid fluorescence microscope

5X objective, green, blue and red channels. Dedicated to viral work.

Luminex Magpix

Up to 50 analyses detected. Housed in a biosafety cabinet, dedicated to viral work.

Inverted Phase Contrast Fluorescence Microscope

Nikon Eclipse Ti-E instrument 10x, 20x, 40x, 60x and 100x magnification 4 excitation/emission channels: ex 387/11 DM 410 em 440/40 ex 485/20 DM 504 em 525/30 ex 560/25 DM 582 em 607/36 ex 650/13 DM 669 em 684/24

Small animal housing facility

Includes an aerosol machine for mouse infection. Restricted to Mtb work.

Technical execution of experimental procedures

Staff scientist available to perform collaborative work. Currently limited to viral work.

Confocal microscope

Zeiss Cell Discoverer 7 microscope: a fully automated epifluorescence and confocal imaging platform for slides, plates and Petri dishes. Includes a 50x water immersion objective.

Photo Gallery

Latest From The Lab

Ragon Study Finds Key Mechanism of Immune Evasion by SARS-CoV-2

Apr 23, 2024 Features

A collaborative research study led by Ragon Institute faculty member and Early Independence fellow Wilfredo F. Garcia-Beltran, MD, PhD, and Ragon Biosafety Level 3 Core co-director Julie Boucau, PhD, has uncovered a critical mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 evades one of the body’s key immune responses, providing new insights that could lead to novel treatments. Their […]

Ragon Institute Women Make a Difference: Amy Barczak

Mar 18, 2022 Features

Amy Barczak, MD, has been a physician-scientist at the Ragon Institute since 2015, where she is both a Faculty Member and the Director of the Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory for Special Pathogens. Barczak’s lab investigates at the cellular level the fundamental interactions between TB pathogens and the human immune system that could lead to breakthroughs […]

Selected Publications

SARS-CoV-2 Virologic Rebound With Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Therapy : An Observational Study

Edelstein GE, Boucau J, Uddin R, Marino C, Liew MY, Barry M, Choudhary MC, Gilbert RF, Reynolds Z, Li Y, Tien D, Sagar S, Vyas TD, Kawano Y, Sparks JA, Hammond SP, Wallace Z, Vyas JM, Barczak AK, Lemieux JE, Li JZ, Siedner MJ

Ann Intern Med . 2023 Nov 14:M23-1756

November 14, 2023
PMID: PMC10644265
Read on Journal Site

Immunopeptidomics reveals determinants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen presentation on MHC class I.

Leddy O, White FM, Bryson BD.

Elife. 2023 Apr 19;12:e84070

April 19, 2023
PMID: 37073954
Read on Journal Site

TLR2 is non-redundant in the population and subpopulation responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in macrophages and in vivo.

Jani C, Solomon SL, Peters JM, Pringle SC, Hinman AE, Boucau J, Bryson BD, Barczak AK.

mSystems. 2023 Aug 31;8(4)

August 31, 2023
PMID: 37439558
Read on Journal Site

SARS-CoV-2 infection of human pluripotent stem cell-derived liver organoids reveals potential mechanisms of liver pathology.

Richards A, Friesen M, Khalil A, Barrasa MI, Gehrke L, Jaenisch R.

iScience. 2022 Oct 21;25(10)

October 21, 2022
PMID: 36128218
Read on Journal Site

FcγR-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of monocytes activates inflammation

Caroline Junqueira, Ângela Crespo, Shahin Ranjbar, Luna B de Lacerda, Mercedes Lewandrowski, Jacob Ingber, Blair Parry, Sagi Ravid, Sarah Clark, Marie Rose Schrimpf, Felicia Ho, Caroline Beakes, Justin Margolin, Nicole Russell, Kyle Kays, Julie Boucau, Upasana Das Adhikari, Setu M Vora, Valerie Leger, Lee Gehrke, Lauren A Henderson, Erin Janssen, Douglas Kwon, Chris Sander, Jonathan Abraham, Marcia B Goldberg, Hao Wu, Gautam Mehta, Steven Bell, Anne E Goldfeld, Michael R Filbin, Judy Lieberman

Nature, 606(7914), 04/04/22

April 4, 2022
PMID: 35385861
Read on Journal Site

Inhibition of major histocompatibility complex-I antigen presentation by sarbecovirus ORF7a proteins

Fengwen Zhang, Trinity M Zang, Eva M Stevenson, Xiao Lei, Dennis C Copertino, Talia M Mota, Julie Boucau, Wilfredo F Garcia-Beltran, R Brad Jones, Paul D Bieniasz

Proceedings of National Academy of Science, 119 (41) 10/11/2022

October 11, 2022
PMID: 36136978
Read on Journal Site

Duration of Shedding of Culturable Virus in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (BA.1) Infection

Julie Boucau, Caitlin Marino, James Regan, Rockib Uddin, Manish C Choudhary, James P Flynn, Geoffrey Chen, Ashley M Stuckwisch, Josh Mathews, May Y Liew, Arshdeep Singh, Taryn Lipiner, Autumn Kittilson, Meghan Melberg, Yijia Li, Rebecca F Gilbert, Zahra Reynolds, Surabhi L Iyer, Grace C Chamberlin, Tammy D Vyas, Marcia B Goldberg, Jatin M Vyas, Jonathan Z Li, Jacob E Lemieux, Mark J Siedner, Amy K Barczak

New England Journal of Medicine 2022, June 29

June 29, 2022
PMID: 35767428
Read on Journal Site
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