The University of Kansas Computational Chemical Biology Core (CCB) provides the computational resources and expertise to enhance the productivity of researchers in a variety of fields, including biology, biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and pharmaceutical chemistry. The CCB has the tools and expertise to perform virtual screening, protein-small molecule docking, binding site prediction, protein modeling and design, prediction of protein stability changes upon mutation, fragment based probe design, molecular dynamics, as well as preparation of presentation graphics.

With the introduction of Alphafold, the CCB has significant expertise in interpreting results, modeling specific ligands and/or alternate states that weren't returned by Alphafold, and virtual screening against Alphafold models, which often are not suitable for a traditional virtual screen. This is accomplished through out specialization in initial hit identification of non-traditional drug targets such as structures lacking pre-formed small molecule binding site or protein-RNA interfaces by offering high-throughput virtual screening via pocket optimization with exemplar screening at protein-protein interfaces and hotspot pharmacophore mimicry of protein-RNA interactions.

We look forward to working with you in any stage of your project, from hypothesis formation, gathering of preliminary data for grant submissions, long-term collaborations, all the way to providing a figure to put the finishing touch on your manuscript.

The Mass Spectrometry and Analytical Proteomics Core (MSAPL) at KU provides a range of mass-spectrometry (MS) based services including small molecule analysis & quantitation, peptide and protein MW determination.
We also provide many MS-based proteomics services and associated bioinformatics including: global proteome IDs (Discovery) and targeted proteomics, post-translational modification mapping, quantitative proteomics (Label-free; TMT; other labels). We also provide consultation for designing proteomics experiments. In addition to that we also provide thermal protein profiling (TPP) .

The Microscopy and Analytical Imaging Research Resource Core Laboratory (MAI; also known as
Microscopy and Analytical Imaging Shared Resource [MAISR]), is a 2,450 ft2 core research resource core laboratory in Room 1043 in Haworth Hall at the University of Kansas Lawrence campus. The MAI (https://mai.ku.edu/) is a fee-for-service center. The imaging resources within the MAI are available to all University of Kansas, University of Kansas Medical Center, and University of Kansas Cancer Center students, staff, and faculty, students, staff, and faculty within and outside the state, and industry collaborators working in the life sciences and material sciences for nominal fees.

The MAI resource scientists (https://mai.ku.edu/lab-staff) provides training for undergraduate, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, staff, and industry collaborators as many times as is necessary to master a given instrument and/or technique.
The MAI is directed by Eduardo Rosa- Molinar, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Bicampus Neuroscience Graduate Program, Anatomy and Cell Biology, and Bioengineering.

The KU Protein Production Group (PPG) focuses on the cloning, expression and purification of prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins for KU and other investigators in Kansas and the nation. The laboratory maintains a variety of equipment to support the production of properly folded proteins in quantities suitable for structural studies (X-ray and NMR), functional studies (catalytic or biological), label-free binding studies (SPR) and/or high throughput (HTP) screening studies.

The Protein Structure & X-Ray Crystallography Laboratory (PSXL) is a core laboratory at the University of Kansas that possesses the infrastructure and expertise to perform all aspects of protein and small molecule structure determination using X-ray crystallography. For protein structure determination, high-throughput methods are utilized to move projects rapidly from gene-to-structure.

The COBRE Biomolecular NMR Laboratory maintains two high field NMR spectrometers in support of structural and dynamics studies of biomolecules with COBRE and other investigators in Kansas and the region. Its capabilities include determining high resolution structures, biological macromolecules, elucidation and structural mapping of protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, protein-peptide, protein-drug interactions, and studies of the dynamics of proteins and their complexes in solution. Laboratory staff provide advice, consultation, training, assistance and complete structure elucidation services to investigators. The staff is also responsible for maintenance, upgrades, implementation of new NMR pulse sequences, and assisting local and remote users with technical problems.

High throughput screening of large chemical libraries of compounds is a proven way to identify novel chemical entities that target a biological system of interest. KU-HTS is a state- of-the-art facility dedicated to providing exceptional services in advancing drug discovery research initiatives, as well as assistance in preparing grant applications. HTS personnel have extensive experience in executing biochemical, cell-based, siRNA as well as high content screening campaigns against a plethora of target classes. KU-HTS is a fee-for-service facility dedicated to providing academia and nonprofit institutions, as well as the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, with exceptional quality services at the lowest cost structure. We partner with the investigators collaboratively to expedite their drug discovery efforts and serve as a uniquely qualified reference facility with high throughput screening instrument manufacturers as well as reagent kit developers and manufacturers.

The Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory is a university-based drug discovery facility with a state-of-the-art infrastructure for pharmaceutical research. The Core provides medicinal, synthetic, and combinatorial chemistry support for Core B (HTS) and COBRE investigators. The support involves the optimization of compounds for potency, and selectivity by the following:

Preparing targeted libraries for screening and
lead optimization
Synthesizing organic compounds on various scales
(from mg to multi-gram)
Assisting COBRE investigators and other
university investigators, if requested, in the
design of novel ligands and in the development
of practical synthetic routes.