Acquisition of Beckman ProteomeLab XL-I Characterization System

该奖项是为了表彰获得最先进的Beckman ProteomeLab XL-I分析超速离心仪(AUC)，以支持亨特学院和纽约城市大学(CUNY，亨特学院所属的最大的城市大学之一)对生物大分子的多学科研究。AUC仪器将补充亨特现有的共享仪器设施(质谱仪设施和核磁共振设施)，并进一步支持城市大学的大分子组装倡议。AUC技术的应用有助于对溶液中大分子的热力学和流体力学性质有基本的了解。该仪器的用户组由亨特学院化学系和生物系的教职员工组成，他们分别来自纽约州立大学和普林斯顿大学的另外两个校区。所有用户都从事生物大分子的定量研究，他们为大分子性质及其应用的研究带来了广泛的背景和兴趣。用户正在研究的领域包括1)胶原蛋白三螺旋的组装，2)调节蛋白和膜内蛋白的齐聚状态，3)蛋白质-RNA相互作用，4)真菌粘附素蛋白质在细胞聚集过程中的聚集和构象变化，5)植物角质层聚合物的结构研究，6)基于生物分子识别的功能纳米管的设计。AUC仪器将使研究界能够更有效地继续他们对生物系统的研究，探索生物聚合物在纳米技术中令人兴奋的新应用，同时也促进研究生和本科生的教学、培训和学习。亨特学院是一所少数族裔服务机构；此外，亨特学院近70%的本科生是女性。AUC用户组的所有教员都积极参与本科生和研究生的教学；他们中的大多数人目前在他们的研究实验室指导少数族裔学生。多年来，约有250名少数民族学生获得了生物学及相关领域的研究经验；约75人获得了博士学位，其中15人随后获得了终身教职。收购AUC仪器将进一步吸引代表人数不足的群体的学生和女学生进入科学，使他们能够接触到这一最先进的技术。收购AUC仪器所促进的研究活动和合作将为研究生和本科生提供一个富有成效的环境，让他们在广泛的背景下了解研究课题，补充和延伸到教科书和课堂演示之外。在这类研究活动中获得的经验将使他们能够在一个日益依赖和推动技术的工作环境中取得成功，并迎接未来的挑战。

This award is for the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Beckman ProteomeLab XL-I analytical ultracentrifuge (AUC) to support multidisciplinary research on biomacromolecules at Hunter College, and at the City University of New York (CUNY, one of the largest urban universities, to which Hunter college is affiliated). The AUC instrument will complement the existing shared instrument facilities (Mass Spec facility and NMR facility) at Hunter and further support the CUNY initiative for Macromolecular Assembly. Applications of AUC technology have contributed to basic understandings of the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of macromolecules in solution. The user group of the instrument consists of faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biology of Hunter College, from two other campuses of CUNY and from Princeton University. All of the users are engaged in quantitative studies of biological macromolecules, and they bring a broad spectrum of backgrounds and interests to the investigation of macromolecular properties and their applications. Areas under investigation by the users are 1) assembly of collagen triple helices, 2) oligomerization states of regulatory proteins and of intramembrane proteins, 3) protein-RNA interactions, 4) aggregation and conformational changes of fungal Adhesin proteins during cellular aggregation 5) structural investigation of plant cuticular polymers and 6) design of functional nanotubes based on molecular recognition of biomolecules. The AUC instrument will allow the research community to more effectively pursue their studies of biological systems, to explore exciting new applications of biopolmers in nanotechnology, while also promot the teaching, training and learning of the graduate and undergraduate students. Hunter College is a minority serving institution; in addition, nearly 70% of the undergraduate students at Hunter are female. All the faculty members of the AUC user group are actively involved in undergraduate and graduate teaching; most of them are currently mentoring minority students in their research labs. Over the years, about 250 minority students have acquired research experience in biology and related fields; about 75 have gone on to earn a PhD degree and 15 of them have subsequently taken tenure-track positions. The acquisition of an AUC instrument will further attract students from underrepresented groups and female students to science by providing them with access to this state-of -the-art technology. The research activities and collaborations fostered by the acquisition of the AUC instrument will provide a productive environment for students, both graduate and undergraduate, to understand research subjects in a broad context, complementing and extending beyond the textbooks and classroom presentations. Experiences gained in such research activities will prepare them to succeed in a work environment (both in industry and in academics) that is increasingly dependent on and driven by technologies and to meet the challenges of the future.