Ultra-centrifuge - Steacie Supplement

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Currently the Dept of Psychology does not have an ultra-centrifuge. The closest one to us is in the Biology Department (4 floors down and the adjacent wing of the building). They have been very generous in letting us use it, however, we are finding that our use of the ultra-centrifuge is becoming more frequent as we begin to examine synaptic proteins that contribute to reconsolidation. We feel this area of research is the next 5-10 yrs of focus for us. Given that few labs in the world are focused on this issue amygdala, we are in a very opportune moment to publish some studies linking receptor trafficking in the amygdala with changes in behavior. This would place us at the lead of this portion of the field. Few groups have been able to make the link from behavior to synaptic proteins and we have data with PKMzeta indicating that the project is feasible. The ultra-centrifuge is central to make that happen. It is the only method to allow a quantitative evaluation of proteins in the post-synaptic density, with relatively little contamination from other cellular compartments.