About
The Emory High Containment Facility (EHCF) is a state-of-the-art 5,898 sqft Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) facility containing six BSL3 and six Animal BSL3 (ABSL3) laboratory suites, as well as five specialized procedure suites to support biocontainment research. The specialized laboratories include:
- Single cell Omics and molecular biology
- Flow cytometry and sorting
- High-throughput assay and fluorescence and confocal microscopy
- Histopathology
- Imaging
The EHCF provides all the infrastructure and resources to support simultaneous research with different pathogens and animal models, while maintaining the highest standards of biosafety, biosecurity and ethical responsibility.
The laboratory is operated by a team of professionals including the EHCF directors, the Emory Division of Animal Resources (DAR), the Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHSO), Occupational health, and research scientists.
Leadership
Rafael Medina, PhD
Scientific Director
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Rafael A. Medina is Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a member of the Emory Vaccine Center. Dr. Medina obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at The University of New Mexico, where he trained in biocontainment while conducting research with Sin Nombre and Andes Hantaviruses. During his Postdoctoral Fellowship in Virology under the mentorship of Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, his research involved studying pandemic influenza viruses, including the 1918 influenzas virus. His research program involves basic and translational interdisciplinary research on emerging and re-emerging RNA viruses, with a focus on Influenza virus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A major goal is to understand the molecular basis of disease, pathogenesis and host immune responses induced during RNA virus infections, using systems biology approaches. His lab studies viral zoonosis, viral immune evasion and uses experimental and Omics tools to dissect molecular host-pathogen interactions leading to resilience versus severe disease.
Motiur Rahman, MD, PhD
Director
Dr. Motiur Rahman received his MD from Bangladesh and PhD from Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Dr. Rahman started his scientific carrier at ICDDR, B Dhaka Bangladesh in 1997. Before joining Emory, Dr. Rahman worked for FHI 360 (2006-2011), Oxford University, UK (2011-2021), and Dalhousie University, Canada (2021-2024). As a biomedical researcher, he has published 90+ papers in peer reviewed journals.
Dr. Rahman is a Registered Biosafety Practitioner (RBP) and an “International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA)” registered auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 17025, ISO 18001. He is a recognized trainer on ISO 15189, Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). He has 20+ years of experience working in Risk Group 3 high containment laboratories, in implementing BSL3 training programs, and on the operation, management, commissioning and annual certification of BSL3 laboratories.
