The University of Colorado Denver Biophysics Core Facility will purchase a MicroCal iTC200 instrument with support from the NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant program. The MicroCal iTC200 is an instrument used to determine binding affinity and thermodynamics of biomolecular interactions. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is beneficial to all fields of biomedical science. The MicroCal iTC200 is a critical piece of equipment that has been in increasing demand for several of our faculty members since it uses less sample, has increased sensitivity, and completes experiments rapidly. The requested instrument will allow our faculty members the ability to acquire much needed data that is important to the specific aims of their research goals. There are a broad range of projects at the University of Colorado Denver that will benefit from this instrument as described below: Characterization of binding activities of chromatin- and phosphoinositide- associating proteins implicated in cancer and other human diseases (Kutateladze, T.G.). Development of novel antimicrobial peptide drugs to provide an alternative treatment for antibiotic resistant Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial infections (Hodges, R.S.). Understanding protein-DNA recognition (Churchill, M.E.A.). Examining the interaction of SIX1 mutants with EYA in a transcriptional complex which can induce tumor onset and metastasis (Ford, H.L.). Detailed binding studies of RNAs to cellular proteins and ribosomes to elucidate mechanisms of viral infection which cause hepatitis C, hepatitis A, polio, and HIV (Kieft, J.S.) The success of many of these research projects depends on having state-of-the-art equipment to determine binding interactions and structure-function relationships.
