A circular dichroism spectropolarimeter for protein biophysics, self-assembly, and engineering.

这笔赠款将用于提供研究级圆二色性（CD）分光光度计，为达尔豪西大学的蛋白质科学和工程研究开辟新途径。蛋白质可以呈意大利面条状（“未折叠”）链，也可以具有确定的“折叠”结构。CD光谱允许在给定的一组条件下相对快速和稳健地表征存在的未折叠蛋白质与折叠蛋白质的量。此外，折叠状态的实际性质直接反映在CD光谱中。所有四个共同申请人和他们目前的16名学员名单，从发展研究专业知识的本科生到高级博士后研究员，将能够立即利用这一仪器对包括人类，真菌和蜘蛛在内的各种生物体中的生命至关重要的蛋白质进行基础研究。

This grant will be used to provide a research-grade circular dichroism (CD) spectrophotometer allowing new avenues of protein science and engineering research at Dalhousie University. Proteins may either be in a spaghetti-like (“unfolded”) chain or they may have a defined, "folded" structure. CD spectroscopy allows a relatively fast and robust characterization of the amount of unfolded vs. folded protein present under a given set of conditions. Furthermore, the actual nature of the folded state is directly reflected in the CD spectrum. All four of the co-applicants and their current roster of 16 trainees, ranging from undergraduate students developing research expertise to senior postdoctoral fellows, will be able to immediately take advantage of this instrument for fundamental studies of proteins critical for life in diverse organisms including humans, fungi, and spiders.