LARGE-SCALE PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE PRODUCTION CORE FACILITY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Professor Ralph Henry, the director of the Protein and Peptide Production Core facility, has worked with Professor Robert Beitle in the development of high density fed batch culture technology, which can produce over ten times more protein per liter than traditional shaking culture methods. Such an approach is especially critical to meet protein labeling demands for NMR-based structure studies, where the use of large culture volumes to overcome 'poor' protein expression prohibits the use of expensive 13C and 15N isotopic labels. Equipment in the Core Facility includes a production suite consisting of four Applikon Bioreactors, an Applied Biosystems gas phase protein sequenator and peptide synthesizer, Beckman analytical and preparative ultracentrifuges, two AKTA Explorer FPLC systems, and numerous HPLC units. Nearly all of the $800,000 needed for the purchase of the equipment in the core has been provided by other grants and institutional funds. The University has committed institutional funds to support permanent staff positions for Jerry Homesley and K.Z. Shein, who maintain the instrumentation in the core.