The Biophysics Instrumentation Core (BIC) Facility at the University of Notre Dame is currently installing a new research instrument with potential applications for combating diseases such as antibiotic resistant infections, allergies, cancer, strokes, and autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders. The instrument will be available for use by mid-July.
The new Biacore T200 Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) System, manufactured by Cytiva, will be used to rapidly and precisely measure interactions between proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, drugs, inhibitors, and other organic compounds, such as binding affinity, kinetics, specificity, and concentration. The expanded access to SPR measurement capabilities will accelerate Notre Dame’s research projects devoted to understanding and improving specificity in cellular immunity, characterizing the molecular functions of bacteria including interactions of pathogenic and beneficial bacteria with host cells, and designing small molecule inhibitors of molecular chaperones with anti-cancer and neuroprotective effects.
Funds to purchase the Biacore T200 SPR were awarded to the BIC through the competitive National Institutes of Health (NIH) S10 shared instrumentation grant program. BIC staff scientist Giselle Jacobson coordinated the overall proposal preparation, which involved contributions from 13 NIH-funded investigators from Notre Dame’s Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, and Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. Brian Baker, Coleman Professor of Life Sciences and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry served as principal investigator of the NIH proposal, reflecting his more than 20 years of expertise with SPR measurements.
“We are grateful to the NIH for recognizing the positive impact that this T200 SPR will have on biomedical research projects at Notre Dame,” said Patricia Clark, John Cardinal O’Hara, C.S.C. Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, associate vice president for research, and BIC faculty director. “Housing this instrument in the BIC will allow it to support both current, ongoing projects at Notre Dame and enable research teams new to SPR to carry out initial proof-of-concept experiments as part of their development of new research directions.”
The Biacore T200 SPR complements a suite of existing specialized instruments in the BIC, each capable of characterizing unique aspects of biomolecular conformations and interactions, as well as equipment for the isolation and purification of macromolecules for subsequent detailed biophysical analysis.
The BIC is a shared user core facility supported by the College of Science, College of Engineering, and Notre Dame Research. The BIC, which provides instrument training as well as one-on-one consultations for experiment design and data analysis, welcomes users from across the Notre Dame community and the surrounding area. Learn more at bic.nd.edu.
Contact:
Giselle Jacobson / Staff Scientist
Biophysics Instrumentation Core Facility / University of Notre Dame
gjacobso@nd.edu / 574.631.3556
About Notre Dame Research:
The University of Notre Dame is a private research and teaching university inspired by its Catholic mission. Located in South Bend, Indiana, its researchers are advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education, and creative endeavor in order to be a repository for knowledge and a powerful means for doing good in the world. For more information, please see research.nd.edu or @UNDResearch.
Originally published by at bic.nd.edu on July 06, 2021.