About Culture Core

Cell Culture Center in USC Bridge Institute’s Structural Biology Center is a recharge facility specializing in protein expression and cell culture. Our areas of expertise include baculovirus expression with insect cells, mammalian expression with HEK 293 cells, and various pancreatic beta cell cultures. Our work has supported crystallization and structure determination of more than thirty unique human G protein-coupled receptor structures in the labs of Dr. Ray Stevens and Dr. Vadim Cherezov, as well as provided material for collaborative biophysical and pharmacology studies in the labs of numerous collaborators. In addition to protein expression aimed for protein structures, the Cell Culture Center has aided research in antibody expression, soluble proteins, and other membrane proteins.

Cell Culture and Expression Analysis Equipment

We have state-of-the-art equipment for insect and mammalian cell culture, both in suspension and with adherent cells.
For large-scale expression, we use suspension cells for easy scale up.

Key pieces of laboratory equipment include:

  • Shel Lab shaker/incubators
  • New Brunswick shakers (Eppendorf)
    • 43R Shaker
    • 44R Shaker
  • Beckman Coulter Centrifuges:
    • 1L J6-MI
    • Allegra X-15R
    • Sorvall RC-12BP+ Centrifuge
  • Millipore Guava®
  • easyCyte Flow Cytometers
  • CO 2 incubators/shakers
  • Large capacity Multitron Pro Shakers
  • Multiple biological safety cabinet hoods