Facility Details

The Protein Core facilitates recombinant protein production and characterization of macromolecules, making available well-maintained equipment and instrumentation not normally found within individual laboratories. The mission of the Protein Core is to provide training and access to its facilities for members of the Center as well as the research community in general. Projects are also undertaken on a service basis. A full time staff member maintains the core equipment, provides training to new users, works with researchers to make the best use of the instrumentation, and helps to oversee scheduling.

The Core has the capabilities to assist researchers in moving their project from protein expression to biophysical characterization to protein crystallization and structure determination. The Core assists in cell culture, protein production and purification, and macromolecular characterization through a number of techniques. Researchers can make use of Core instrumentation on a regular basis unassisted by Core personnel after initial training. Core personnel offer training on all instruments and equipment, as well as a higher level of assistance when projects warrant. Additionally, service projects are undertaken, including protein production using heterologous expression in bacteria, yeast, or insect cells, protein purification, crystallization trials, and crystal structure determination.