High Performance Liquid Chromatography system

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This is an application to purchase autosampler High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) system. HPLC allows a very efficient (high resolution) fractionation and isolation of proteins and peptides from complex protein or peptide mixtures. One aspect of the research (NSERC funded) in my lab is to characterize the proteins that are involved in the cell differentiation process (spermatogenesis) leading to the formation of male sperm cells (spermatozoa). We are also interested in the characterization and to identify the mechanisms of these proteins after fertilization of the egg. This work requires the purification and characterization of proteins from different vertebrate and invertebrate organisms using HPLC and has important potential implications for infertility. Further characterization of these proteins is achieved by cleaving them into smaller peptides with the help of specific proteases. The peptide mixtures generated can also be conveniently fractionated by HPLC. The pure peptides thus obtained are used in the identification of the proteins of interest. This information is very valuable as it can be further used in the characterization of the genes encoding these proteins. HPLC is a technique that is routinely used in almost all modern biochemistry labs working on protein purification. Our lab has been using this technique on a daily basis for the last twenty three years. However, quite unexpectedly the mother board that runs HPLC in our lab died recently and the parts required to replace it have become obsolete. This provides us the opportunity to acquire a modern system with an autosampler in addition to allowing for the replacement of an equipment that is imperative for the efficient implementation of our current research program. The autosampler will greatly enhance the multiuser availability of this instrumentation which will benefit the immunology (studies on sleeping sickness) and microbiology (leptospirosis/poxvirus) research conducted by several other colleagues at the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at UVic. Hence, the research pursued with this equipment, besides its strong basic research component, may have important applied beneficial implications for people in Canada and Internationally.