Objectives

To serve as a resource for facilitating the refinement and analytical validation of biomarker assays, methodologies, and reagents and assist in and perform Network-supported validation of biomarkers.

Program Description

The Biomarkers Reference Laboratory (BRL) at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) serves as a Network resource for clinical and laboratory validation of biomarkers, which includes technological development, assay standardization, and method refinement. The JHMI clinical laboratory is Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified for the examination of human specimens for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease. The laboratory has more than 20 years of experience in clinical chemistry, immunoassay, quality control, standardization, automation, proteomics, and cancer biomarkers and has the unique ability to develop, optimize, scale-up, and automate diagnostic assays. The laboratory has established an extensive network of academic and industrial collaborators.

Expertise and Resources Available

The laboratory has extensive experience with immunoassay, ELISA, protein chips, SELDI technology, chromatography, and mass spectrometry for protein characterization in a CLIA-based environment.