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UMass Amherst Biophysical Characterization Core Facility

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Contact Info:

Stephen Eyles

240 Thatcher Rd

Life Science Laboratories

Amherst, MA 01003

https://www.umass.edu/ials/biophysical-characterization

Grants and Identifiers:

RRID: RRID:SCR_022357

Instrumentation:

analytical ultracentrifuges (Beckman XL-I and XL-A) XL-A

Centrifuge with in-solution characterization of proteins, oligomers, aggregates, particles, colloids, and small structures. It allows for In-solution testing in native conditions. It measures the relative change in the distribution of molecular weights, providing an efficient way to measure heterogeneity, stoichiometry and self-associating systems. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_019567

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(Equipment No Longer Active At this Facility)

Biacore T100 System

System for analysis of biomolecular interactions, based on GE Healthcare?s surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology. Control Software supplied with the system offers easy-to-use wizards for assay development and common applications together with flexible facilities for designing custom analysis methods using a graphical interface called Method Builder. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_019679

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BioTek Synergy Neo2 Hybrid Multi-Mode Microplate Reader

Microplate reader that is designed for a screening laboratory and combines variable bandwidth quad monochromators, sensitive high transmission filter-based optics, laser TRF and up to 4 PMTs to provide fast measurements. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_019765

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Formulator by Formulatrix liquid handler for preparing crystallization reservoirs

Liquid handler specifically designed for Protein Crystallography that uses patented microfluidic technology to dispense up to 34 different ingredients. A 96-nozzle dispensing chip can dispense any volume of any ingredient of any viscosity into any well. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_019920

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General Electric AKTA FPLC System, Protein Purification System

Purification system intended for microgram-scale protein purifications in Tricorn columns up to milligram-scale using HiTrap and HiScreen columns. For fast protein liquid chromatography of tens of grams of protein,can be used with flow rates up to 150 mL/min. This high flow rate is necessary when working with high-flow resins in large columns. Columns can even be packed at flow rates as high as 300 mL/min. System reduces hands-on time so that you can spend less time purifying proteins and more time focusing on your results. Easily switch between different users and applications. To get you up and running quickly, methods are easily created by dragging and dropping predefined templates in UNICORN 7. Purification of protein to sufficiently high yield and purity can be a time- and resource-consuming process. To address fast and efficient protein purification, Can be set up in different ways to handle multistep purification. With an additional column valve up to 10 columns can be connected enabling automation of several samples and steps. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_019958

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Jasco 1500 1500

J-1500 allows for the maximum flexibility to upgrade your CD system with different measurement techniques. While the standard measurement modes are CD, LD, and absorbance, up to four simultaneous modes can be measured when combined with a wide range of sampling accessories. These accessories can measure a variety of samples, from liquids to films to solid-states. Temperature control systems can be coupled with multi-position cells to run thermal melts, providing researchers with CD and thermodynamic data sets for conformational and folding studies. Automated high-throughput CD can obtain measurements on up to 192 samples without user intervention, saving both time and money. Kinetic and protein dynamics studies can be performed with our dedicated stopped-flow systems that can measure both CD and fluorescence. The wavelength range has also been significantly extended, allowing measurements to be obtained in both the vacuum-UV and NIR spectral regions using the standard PMT detector (163 950 nm) and an optional InGaAs detector (up to 1600 nm). Additional features now allow researchers to optimize their parameter specifications in order to obtain data with the highest resolution and S/N performance for a specific application set. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_020147

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Microcal ITC 200 Isothermal Titration Calorimeter

Isothermal titration calorimeter for label free, in solution, study of biomolecular interactions. It delivers measurement of binding parameters with minimum of 10 ug sample. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_018590

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(Equipment No Longer Active At this Facility)

Waters 2996 Photodiode Array Detector

Waters 2996 PDA Detector can be used for in-vitro diagnostic testing to analyze many compounds, including diagnostic indicators and therapeutically monitored compounds. It also describes detector optics and the principles of Spectral Contrast used in the Millennium32 software for analyzing the data from the PDA detector. [Product Link]

RRID:SCR_020876

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Cytiva Biacore T-200 SPR

Surface plasmon resonance

Other Equipment

Biacore T200 SPR Waters Alliance HPLC Li-Cor Odyssey CLX Typhoon FLA Nanotemper Monolith Labelfree Nanotemper Monolith NT.115 Malvern Zetasizer ZSP

Services Provided:

Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Dynamic Light Scattering

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC)

Plate Reader

Size Exclusion Chromatography With Multi-Angle Light Scattering

Surface Plasmon Resonance

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)

X-Ray Crystallography

Zeta Potential

Relevant Publications:

1.) Hung SJ, Chiang MC, Schiffman JD (2025 Jan 8). Optimization of Polyelectrolyte Coacervate Membranes via Aqueous Phase Separation. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 17(1), 1361-1373. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c18989. PMID: 39698755.


2.) Özden C, MacManus S, Adafia R, Samkutty A, Torres-Ocampo AP, Garman SC, Stratton MM (2024 Apr). Ca2+/CaM dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)α and CaMKIIβ hub domains adopt distinct oligomeric states and stabilities. Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society, 33(4), e4960. . PMID: 38501502.


3.) Özden C, MacManus S, Adafia R, Samkutty A, Torres‐Ocampo AP, Garman SC, Stratton MM (2024 Mar 19). Ca2+/CaM dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)α and CaMKIIβ hub domains adopt distinct oligomeric states and stabilities Protein Science : A Publication of the Protein Society, 33(4), e4960. . PMCID: 10962473.


4.) Menon NG, Tanguay AP, Zhou L, Zhang LX, Bobst CE, Han M, Ghosh M, Greene GW, Deymier A, Sullivan BD, Chen Y, Jay GD, Schmidt TA (2023 Oct). A structural and functional comparison between two recombinant human lubricin proteins: Recombinant human proteoglycan-4 (rhPRG4) vs ECF843. Experimental eye research, 235(), 109643. . PMID: 37678729.


Description:

The facility provides expertise and access to the latest, well-maintained instrumentation that is crucial to the research community of the University of Massachusetts system, the Five College system, other academic institutions, and industrial partners. We are able to offer our capabilities to researchers and invite them to use this equipment either on their own or with the help of faculty who have expertise in each method.