Acquisition of Equipment for Studies of Protein Structure and Function at the University of Nevada, Reno

该提案的目的是在质量和仪器的能力在校园内提供蛋白质化学和物理的研究和培训的重大改进。所要求的五个项目是以联合国大学过去几年来获得和支助的现有设备和师资为基础的。随着自然科学项目在内华达州的发展，涉及蛋白质和肽的研究和教学越来越多，包括分子识别和蛋白质/肽相互作用。这对用于蛋白质分析的现有设备提出了很高的要求，并强调了对内华达州尚不具备的蛋白质技术的需求。拟议的文书将在三个方面加强我们在这一领域的能力：（1）蛋白质结构和大分子及蛋白质-配体相互作用的分析（蛋白质测序仪，MALDI-TOF质谱仪，寿命荧光光谱），（2）实验数据的可视化和解释，生物聚合物构象和受体-配体相互作用的建模，假设建立，和蛋白质工程（高容量图形工作站），和（3）肽的化学合成（肽合成器）。 所要求的设备将为内华达州大学不断增长的本科生、研究生和博士后培训项目的学生和教师提供服务。该大学有一个大型的本科生物化学课程;每个生物化学专业都需要完成为期一年的实验室论文项目。生物化学，细胞和分子生物学，细胞和分子药理学和生理学以及共享教师和资源的相关领域的多部门研究生课程。所要求的设备背后的物理和/或化学原理已经在研究生和本科生的教学课程中教授。在校园里提供这种设备是培养下一代研究人员和技术人员的一个巨大的B优势。 该设备将与五个部门和三个跨学科的成员共享 研究生课程。所要求的设备将对以下人员产生直接影响：（A）生物化学、细胞和分子生物学及相关领域的35名教师，（B）20名博士后研究员，（C）生物化学、细胞和分子生物学的56名研究生，以及（D）113名本科生生物化学专业。最初最大的使用将来自主要用户实验室的30名成员;该园区现有设备的以往经验表明，需求将呈指数增长。MALDI-TOF质谱仪和肽合成仪等设备将很快从至少10名其他教职员工的学生那里获得用户。 如能为这项建议提供全部经费，便可大大提高向本科生、博士前和博士后受训人员提供的培训的质和量。它将允许接触到目前在校园里没有的技术（时间分辨荧光，肽合成），并大大提高其他技术（分子建模，肽测序）的可用性已经存在，但正在超负荷或过时的设备进行。

The purpose of this proposal is to make a major improvement in the quality and capability of instrumentation available on campus for research and training in protein chemistry and physics. The five items requested build on a base of existing equipment and faculty acquired and supported by the University over the last several years. As programs in the natural sciences have developed in Nevada, there has been an increasing amount of research and teaching involving proteins and peptides, including molecular recognition and protein/peptide interactions. This has put a heavy demand on existing equipment used for protein analysis and accentuated the need for protein technologies not yet available in the State of Nevada. The proposed instruments will enhance our capabilities in this area in three aspects: (1) the analysis of protein structure and macromolecular and protein- ligand interactions (protein sequencer, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, life time fluorescence spectroscopy), (2) the visualization and interpretation of experimental data, modeling of biopolymer conformation and receptor-ligand interactions, hypothesis building, and engineering of proteins (high capacity graphics workstation), and (3) the chemical synthesis of peptides (peptide synthesizer). The equipment requested will serve students and faculty in the University of Nevada's growing undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training programs. The University has a large undergraduate Biochemistry program; each Biochemistry major is required to complete a year-long laboratory-based thesis project. There are multi-departmental graduate programs in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, and allied fields which share faculty and resources. The physical and/or chemical principles behind the requested equipment are already taught in didactic courses for graduate and undergraduate students. Availability of such equipment on campus is an enormous b enefit in the training of the next generation of researchers and technicians. The equipment will be shared with members of five departments and three interdisciplinary graduate programs. The requested equipment would have an immediate impact on (A) 35 faculty in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology and allied areas, (B) 20 postdoctoral fellows, (C) 56 graduate students in Biochemistry and Cell and Molecular Biology and (D) 113 undergraduate biochemistry majors. The greatest initial use will come from the 30 members of the major users' laboratories; previous experience on this campus with existing equipment has shown that the demand will grow exponentially. Equipment such as the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer and peptide synthesizer will quickly acquire users from students of at least ten other faculty members. Full funding of this proposal would permit a major increase in both the quality and the quantity of training offered to undergraduates, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. It would permit exposure to technologies (time-resolved fluorescence, peptide synthesis) not presently available on campus and greatly enhance the availability of other technologies (molecular modeling, peptide sequencing) already present but being conducted on overloaded or obsolete equipment.