Acquisition of Equipment for Studies of Protein Structure and Function at the University of Nevada, Reno

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The purpose of this proposal is to make a major improvement in the quality and capability of instrumentation available on campus for research and training in protein chemistry and physics. The five items requested build on a base of existing equipment and faculty acquired and supported by the University over the last several years. As programs in the natural sciences have developed in Nevada, there has been an increasing amount of research and teaching involving proteins and peptides, including molecular recognition and protein/peptide interactions. This has put a heavy demand on existing equipment used for protein analysis and accentuated the need for protein technologies not yet available in the State of Nevada. The proposed instruments will enhance our capabilities in this area in three aspects: (1) the analysis of protein structure and macromolecular and protein- ligand interactions (protein sequencer, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, life time fluorescence spectroscopy), (2) the visualization and interpretation of experimental data, modeling of biopolymer conformation and receptor-ligand interactions, hypothesis building, and engineering of proteins (high capacity graphics workstation), and (3) the chemical synthesis of peptides (peptide synthesizer). The equipment requested will serve students and faculty in the University of Nevada's growing undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training programs. The University has a large undergraduate Biochemistry program; each Biochemistry major is required to complete a year-long laboratory-based thesis project. There are multi-departmental graduate programs in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, and allied fields which share faculty and resources. The physical and/or chemical principles behind the requested equipment are already taught in didactic courses for graduate and undergraduate students. Availability of such equipment on campus is an enormous b enefit in the training of the next generation of researchers and technicians. The equipment will be shared with members of five departments and three interdisciplinary graduate programs. The requested equipment would have an immediate impact on (A) 35 faculty in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology and allied areas, (B) 20 postdoctoral fellows, (C) 56 graduate students in Biochemistry and Cell and Molecular Biology and (D) 113 undergraduate biochemistry majors. The greatest initial use will come from the 30 members of the major users' laboratories; previous experience on this campus with existing equipment has shown that the demand will grow exponentially. Equipment such as the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer and peptide synthesizer will quickly acquire users from students of at least ten other faculty members. Full funding of this proposal would permit a major increase in both the quality and the quantity of training offered to undergraduates, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. It would permit exposure to technologies (time-resolved fluorescence, peptide synthesis) not presently available on campus and greatly enhance the availability of other technologies (molecular modeling, peptide sequencing) already present but being conducted on overloaded or obsolete equipment.