Centrifuge suite for protein structure/function studies

蛋白质是生物分子，负责细胞内、细胞外和细胞间的几乎所有生化事件。它们在大小、形状和与其他分子的相互作用方面表现出巨大的变异性，正是这些特征区分了它们各自的角色和行为。对它们的分子结构和相互作用的全面了解扩大了我们对它们所负责的生化过程的基本了解，并为利用它们的功能用于未来的生物技术应用提供了可能性。英国皇后大学的结构生物学家利用结构方法，结合生物物理、生物化学和细胞生物学方法，成功地确定了一系列不同蛋白质的特征。他们的研究严重依赖于不断产生毫克量的纯化重组蛋白，而不受限制地获得一套多功能和坚固的离心机是这种能力的核心。因此，我们正在申请资金，以购买一台高容量离心机、一台超级离心机和配套的转子，以取代不断出现故障并处于灾难性故障边缘的数十年老系统。这套离心机还将确保申请者研究小组的受训人员能够以及时和可重复的方式生产纯化蛋白质，用于他们的变革性结构和功能研究。通过这样做，他们将为蛋白质在关键相互作用网络中发挥作用提供新的见解，这些相互作用网络对所有生命系统的生长和发展至关重要。它们还将产生关于如何更好地处理环境污染物和获得新燃料资源的新知识。最后，它们将为理解蛋白质相互作用提供分子基础，这可以为蛋白质工程和合成生物学战略提供信息，以利用蛋白质和蛋白质复合体实现生物技术进步，包括在替代燃料生产、生物修复、绿色粘合剂、医疗器械方面。

Proteins are biomolecules responsible for almost every biochemical event within, outside, and between cells. They exhibit tremendous variability in their sizes, shapes, and interactions with other molecules, and it is these characteristics that distinguish their individual roles and behaviours. Comprehensive knowledge of their molecular structures and interactions expands our fundamental understanding of the biochemical processes they are responsible for, and affords the possibility of harnessing their functions for future biotechnological applications. Structural biologists at Queen's University have established outstanding records of success in characterizing a diverse array of proteins using structural methods in combination with biophysical, biochemical and cell biology approaches. Their studies critically rely on the continual generation of milligram quantities of purified recombinant proteins, and unfettered access to a set of versatile and robust centrifuges is central to this ability. Thus, we are requesting funds to purchase a high-capacity centrifuge, an ultracentrifuge, and accompanying rotors to replace decades-old systems that are continually breaking down and on the verge of catastrophic failure. This centrifuge suite will also ensure that trainees in the applicants’ research groups can produce purified proteins in a timely and reproducible manner for their transformative structural and functional studies. In doing so, they will provide new insights into proteins functioning in critical interaction networks that are fundamental to growth and development of all living systems. They also will give rise to new knowledge about how to better deal with environmental pollutants and access new fuel resources. Finally, they will provide a molecular basis for understanding protein interactions, which can inform protein engineering and synthetic biology strategies to harness proteins and proteins complexes for biotechnological advances, including in alternative fuel generation, bioremediation, green adhesives, medical devices.