MRI: Acquisition of a liquid chromatography system to enhance interdisciplinary biochemistry research at Linfield College

林菲尔德学院获得了一项奖励，以支持化学和生物系的本科生进行生物化学研究，并获得了快速纯化液相色谱（FPLC）系统。一个研究级的FPLC系统将支持跨学科的研究和培训，为不同的本科生群体，特别是在线粒体转录蛋白相互作用和蛋白质折叠模式的研究领域。这一尖端仪器将加强已经强大的分子和细胞生物学设施，并鼓励招聘和留住高质量的教师和学者，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的人。FPLC仪器还将允许开发研究密集型生物化学课程，其核心是对蛋白质结构和功能的基础研究。因此，获得FPLC系统将使化学系和生物系能够支持生物学、化学、生物化学和分子生物学专业学生的教育和培训，并参与作为林菲尔德学生与教师合作研究计划一部分的独立研究和夏季研究。本项目有两个研究领域：1)了解线粒体转录的调控机制，2)研究不同的蛋白质折叠模式如何影响细胞功能。蛋白质纯化对该项目的方法至关重要，该奖项的FPLC系统将允许对感兴趣的蛋白质进行可重复的纯化。具体来说，这包括参与转录的线粒体蛋白，然后用于体外转录分析，以及在肌动蛋白聚合分析中分析皮质蛋白的构象变体的功能。多种方法的蛋白质纯化层析将被使用，包括阴离子交换层析，尺寸排除层析，和金属离子亲和层析。

An award is made to Linfield College to support biochemical research with undergraduate students in the chemistry and biology departments with the acquisition of a fast purification liquid chromatography (FPLC) system. A research-grade FPLC system will support cross-disciplinary research and training for a diverse group of undergraduate students, especially in the research areas of mitochondrial transcription protein interactions and protein folding patterns. This cutting edge instrument will strengthen the already robust molecular and cellular biology facilities and encourage the recruitment and retention of high quality faculty teacher-scholars, including those from underrepresented groups. The FPLC instrument will also allow for the development of a research-intensive biochemistry course that has at its core fundamental research into the structure and function of proteins. Thus, acquisition of a FPLC system will allow the chemistry and biology departments to support the education and training of students from biology, chemistry, and biochemistry and molecular biology majors in courses and participate in independent research and summer research as part of Linfield's Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program.This project has two research areas: 1) understanding regulatory mechanisms of mitochondrial transcription, and 2) investigating how distinct protein folding patterns may affect cellular function. Protein purification is essential to the methods of this project, and the FPLC system from this award will allow for the reproducible purification of the proteins of interest. Specifically, this includes mitochondrial proteins involved in transcription which are then used in an in vitro transcription assay, and conformational variants of the cortactin protein analyzed for functionality in an actin polymerization assay. Multiple methods of protein purification chromatography will be used including anion exchange chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, and metal ion affinity chromatography.