Operations and Maintenance Support for a Regional Protein Characterization Facility

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Proteins are the macromolecules of life. These complex molecules enable our hearts to beat, transfer oxygen that we breathe throughout our bodies, digest the food we eat and allow us to see. These essential molecules are also the central causes for debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis and many types of cancer where dysfunction of one particular protein or erroneous communication with other proteins or DNA can cause irreversible damage. The key to understanding the proper and unhealthy function of many proteins is through the detailed examination of their three-dimensional shapes, the strengths and analysis of interactions between proteins and the impact that small changes in both of these characteristics can have on the proper function of these macromolecules. Our project entitled “Operations and Maintenance Support for a Regional Protein Characterization Facility” requests funding to support and sustain state-of-the-art instrumentation necessary for determining fundamental aspects of how proteins function and govern biological systems. This multi-user facility includes instrumentation used to determine three-dimensional shapes of proteins and their complexes in both crystalline and solid-state forms, the strengths of interactions between molecules, the size and shape of protein complexes and the stabilities of proteins and their diseased-state relatives. The facility is open to all researchers, especially those in Southwestern Ontario where it has been used by >300 different research groups. The facility has formed an integral part in the training of >500 MSc and PhD students who have gone on to positions in academia, biotechnology and chemical industries, medicine and other health care industries. An integral constituent of the facility is the availability of experts who manage the instrument use and provide highly skilled assistance for the operation and optimal performance of the instruments in order to empower a vast array of research programs in academic, government and industrial sectors. The facility provides one-stop shopping access to state-of-the-art instrument capabilities and training that would not otherwise be available to prominent research programs at the local, regional and national level. As such, ensuring reliable access to this facility represents a logical investment of resource funding that will help sustain the research programs of hundreds of researchers and provide leads to important scientific discoveries in all aspects of biology, biotechnology and related interdisciplinary research.