The Translational and Analytical Chemistry Core (TACC) consists of a Chemistry Core Facility and a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility. The Chemistry Core began operations in July 2006 and was designated a CCSG developmental shared resource in July 2008. In 2012, the NMR Facility was moved from the Pharmacology &Analytical Facility to the TACC. The mission of the combined core is to assist researchers with the design, synthesis, and analysis of compounds for use in cancer research. The facility is a state-of-the-art organic chemistry lab, offering services ranging from drug design to pre-clinical drug development. The TACC offers two innovative services that other synthesis cores do not. The molecular modeling service allows design of ab inito new chemical agents. Additionally, the TACC offers small molecule X-ray crystallography. The Chemistry Core has experienced average yearly growth of 36% for design and synthesis services (Development, Modeling, and Custom Synthesis) and a decline of 7% for the analytical services (Mass Spec and X-ray). Over the last 5 years, the Chemistry Core has completed 69 projects and synthesized 144 compounds for 35 cancer center members, representing more than 11,200 hours of service. Major equipment for the Chemistry core includes Varian LC-940 HPLC systems, an Agilent Accurate-Mass TOF LC/MS and a Bruker SMART X2S Automated Bench Top X-ray system. The NMR facility is used primarily for structure determination of compounds developed in drug discovery, pharmacology, and diagnostic imaging laboratories. Other uses include macromolecular structure determination and metabolism studies. Usage of the NMR facility increased 147% over the past five years. Instrumentation consists of Bruker 300 MHz DPX, 500 MHz DRX and 600 MHz Avance NMR spectrometers. In the past five years researchers from thirty-two research groups have utilized the laboratory. Peer reviewed investigators account for 87% of utilization of chemistry services and 46% of utilization of the NMR Facility. For the coming grant cycle, TACC requests $232,209 (24%) support from the CCSG. The institution has provided $1,598,359 for purchase of TACC equipment. Publications cited using the TACC have appeared in J Clin Invest and J Natl Cancer Inst. Future plans include the proposed expansion of the facility to incorporate compound screening to provide for early stage hits and access to GMP capabilities to support clinical research studies. The NMR Facility will continue to support the drug discovery and imaging agent research at MD Anderson, and plans to expand into support of metabolomics research.
The Translational and Analytical Chemistry Core provides the capability to synthesize compounds that otherwise would be difficult and costly to obtain through other sources. Novel compounds can also be designed and synthesized to order against a particular biological target. The NMR facility is used extensively for drug discovery and diagnostic imaging research at MD Anderson.
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