A State-of-the-Art BIACORE T100 for UTMB

描述（由申请人提供）：该奖项将为加尔维斯顿的德克萨斯大学医学分支（UTMB）收购Biacore T100表面等离子体共振系统提供部分支持。分子识别是生物学和医学中最重要的问题之一。这个问题不仅仅是学术上的，因为对识别机制的清楚理解将促进旨在产生治疗相关蛋白质的激动性或拮抗性调节剂的合理设计策略的发展。理解分子识别需要提供结合过程的定量、机械描述的技术。在过去的40年里，为此开发了许多方法，包括等温滴定量热法，并为广泛的现象提供了重要的见解。然而，没有一种技术提供使用Biacore T100表面等离子体共振系统可用的能力的组合。该仪器提供了自动化，高通量的能力，高灵敏度，只需要低样品量，并可以提供一个完整的热力学以及结合过程的动力学表征。这种功能组合非常适合本提案中描述的广泛应用，包括基本应用和平移应用。所要求的仪器将在Sealy结构生物学和分子生物物理学中心的溶液生物物理学核心实验室进行存放、维护和操作。该核心的博士级经理已经接受了Biacore的培训;他和主要用户将在购买后接受Biacore的额外培训。仪器的时间安排将基于网络，任何冲突将由一个包括赠款PI和主要用户在内的咨询委员会解决。大约15%的可用时间将保留给新用户和外部用户。这项技术能够影响本提案中描述的基础和应用研究工作，预示着Biacore T100在UTMB的转化研究工作中将发挥重要作用。事实上，每个主要用户都能够产生已发表的或初步的结果，尽管目前校园内SPR仪器的使用非常有限，这表明UTMB研究界对这项技术的承诺。 公共卫生相关性：分子识别是所有生物学和医学的基础物理过程，提供识别过程的快速和准确表征的技术对于理解疾病以及开发治疗疾病的药物至关重要。在这个补助金中要求的仪器，BIACORE T100表面等离子体共振系统，提供了一个国家的最先进的手段测量结合反应的各种生物学问题，并将代表在UTMB的转化研究工作的核心技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This award will provide partial support for the acquisition of a Biacore T100 surface plasmon resonance system at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Molecular recognition is one of the most important problems in biology and medicine. This problem is not merely academic, since a clear understanding of the mechanism of recognition will facilitate the development of rational design strategies aimed at producing either agonistic or antagonistic modulators of therapeutically relevant proteins. Understanding molecular recognition requires technologies that provide a quantitative, mechanistic description of the binding process. Numerous methods have been developed to this end over the past 40 years, including isothermal titration calorimetry, and have provided significant insights into a broad range of phenomena. However, no single technique provides the combination of capabilities available using the Biacore T100 surface plasmon resonance system. This instrument provides automated, high-throughput capabilities with high sensitivity, requires only low sample quantities, and can provide a complete thermodynamic as well as kinetic characterization of the binding process. This combination of features is perfectly suited to the broad spectrum of applications, both basic and translational, described in this proposal. The requested instrument will be housed, maintained, and operated in the Solution Biophysics Core Laboratory of the Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics. The PhD-level manager of this Core has already received training from Biacore; he and the major users will receive additional training from Biacore after purchase. Scheduling of the instrument will be web-based, and any conflicts will be resolved by an established advisory committee that includes the PI of the grant and major users. Approximately 15% of the available hours will be reserved for new and outside users. The ability of this technology to impact both the basic and applied research efforts described in this proposal portends a major role for the Biacore T100 in UTMB's translational research efforts. The fact that each of the primary users has been able to generate either published or preliminary results, despite the current very limited access to SPR instrumentation on campus, demonstrates the UTMB research community's commitment to this technology. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Molecular recognition is the physical process underlying all of biology and medicine, and technologies that provide a rapid and accurate characterization of the recognition process are fundamental to an understanding of diseases, as well as to the development of drugs to treat them. The instrument requested in this grant, the BIACORE T100 surface plasmon resonance system, provides a state-of-the-art means of measuring binding reactions for a diverse set of biological problems, and will represent a core technology in UTMB's translational research efforts.