Purchase of a Differential Scanning Calorimeter for Studies of DNA Polymerases

化学研究仪器和设施 (CRIF) 计划授予的这一奖项将使路易斯安那州立大学化学系和 A&M 学院能够购买一台差示扫描量热仪。 该设备将主要由初级教员 Vincent J. LiCata 使用，他的研究重点是 DNA 聚合酶的研究。 他将对细菌中四种 DNA 聚合酶的解折叠热力学进行并行定量测量。 此外，LiCata 博士还将测量这些聚合酶展开的 pH 值、水分活度和离子依赖性。 该项目将首次对这些聚合酶的稳定性进行量热测定。 LiCata 博士将研究的一种聚合酶在生物物理方面几乎完全没有特征，但它是聚合酶链式反应 (PCR) 中最常用的聚合酶。 PCR 使科学家能够从极其少量的材料中大量生产 DNA 分子；因此，它对广泛的科学家有用，从法医科学家到从事人类基因组计划的科学家。

This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program will enable the Department of Chemistry at Louisiana State University and A&M College to purchase a differential scanning calorimeter. This equipment will be used primarily by junior faculty member Vincent J. LiCata, whose research focuses on studies of DNA polymerases. He will carry out parallel quantitative measurements of the thermodynamics of unfolding of four DNA polymerases from bacteria. In addition, Dr. LiCata will measure the pH, water activity, and ionic dependencies of unfolding of these polymerases. This project will provide the first calorimetric determinations of the stability of any of these polymerases. One of the polymerases Dr. LiCata will study remains almost completely uncharacterized biophysically, yet it is the most commonly used polymerase in polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. PCR enables scientists to mass-produce DNA molecules from incredibly small amounts of material; thus it is useful to a wide range of scientists, from forensic scientists to those working on the human genome project.