Faculty & Staff
Monoclonal Antibody Facility
South Campus Research Building I (SCRB I)
7455 Fannin Street, Unit 902
Houston, TX 77054
Laura Bover, Ph.D.
Director
Phone: 713-563-3301 (Office)
Email: lbover@mdanderson.org
Bover's previous experience of more than 25 years in tumor immunology and immunotherapy was acquired in Argentina, at one of the country's premier research institutes (Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas, Fundacion Leloir, formerly Fundacion Campomar) and foremost private oncology hospital (Instituto Alexander Fleming). She received first-hand training in the generation of monoclonal antibodies from Cesar Milstein, Ph.D., Nobel Prize winner in Medicine for the discovery of hybridoma technology and Advisor of the Fundacion Campomar. In particular, two of the antibodies generated there (FC-2.15 anti Lewis X and FC-5.01 anti CD63) were licensed to private companies, patented in the U.S. and used in clinical protocols in Argentina.
As part of the Leloir Foundation and the Instituto Alexander Fleming, in Argentina, she established the pre-clinical and clinical protocols for using developed monoclonal antibodies and anti-human melanoma vaccines. She went on to collaborate with physicians, with the goal of developing immune therapies.
Bover is Associate Professor and holds a joint appointment in Immunology, where she provides custom MAbs to MD Anderson Cancer Center and external users, and in Genomic Medicine, where she works under a Glaxo-Smith-Kline/MD Anderson agreement for clinical development of a new therapeutic MAb, generated at the MAF that promotes an immune system attack against cancer. Since June 2007, she has overseen the daily operations of the Core and has been assisting the users of the facility with her expertise.
Long Vien
Laboratory Manager
Phone: 713-563-3223 / 3239 (Office/Laboratory) | 713-792-9928 (Tissue Culture Room)
Email: lvien@mdanderson.org
Vien has more than six years of experience in laboratory work. He previously developed monoclonal antibodies at Tanox, a biopharmaceutical company based in Houston, Texas. While there, he participated in the generation of the anti-IgE program that produced prototype antibody candidates used in clinical trials of allergic pathologies.
Currently, Vien manages the daily operations of the Core and generates antibodies for MD Anderson users, some of them designed for use in anti-human tumor clinical trials. The Core adds to his expertise in improving and developing new technologies in antibody production.
Janis Johnson
Research Technician III
Phone: 713-563-3203 / 3239 (Office/Laboratory) | 713-792-9928 (Tissue Culture Room)
Email: jdjohnson1@mdanderson.org
Johnsonpreviously worked in the Darwin Transgenic Mouse Core at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where she developed high experience performing Microinjections and Embryonic Stem Cell cultures. She joined the Facility in August 2008. She is currently performing mice immunization, antibody purification with Protein A, Protein G, and affinity purification with FPLC (Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography).
Julio Pollarolo
Research Technician III
Phone: 713-563-3203 / 3239 (Office/Laboratory) | 713-792-9928 (Tissue Culture Room)
Email: jpollarolo@mdanderson.org
Pollarolo has a BS in Chemistry and joined the Facility in November 2011. He is responsible for MAbs screening and quality control procedures. He has 8 years of experience working with animals and he worked for a pharmaceutical company in Argentina in quality control assays. He was also trained in more specific methods developed at the Core.