Support for complex technologies and experimental procedures is invaluable in current biomedical research programs. The DNA Sequencing and Protein Analysis Core provides researchers within the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center access to state-of- the-art instruments, techniques and expertise on a recharge basis. The available services include: DNA sequencing Peptide synthesis Mass spectrometry Circular dichroism analysis Amino acid analysis Carbohydrate analysis Protein sequencing These are services that require expensive instruments and/or significant expertise, and are typically unavailable in an individual's laboratory. The facilities used by the UM Cancer Center are based on the University of Michigan Biomedical Research Core facilities (BRCF), which serve the entire local research community. The BRCF organization includes centralized management of administrative and financial functions of all Core labs. By accessing these services via a shared laboratory, the UMCCC gains a number of highly significant benefits: (i) the cost of expensive, state-of- the-art instruments can be spread among numerous users or can be borne by the institution or shared-instrument grant sources, (ii) specialized, highly-trained and experienced personnel can perform the analyses, to everyone's advantage; (iii) a high degree of cost-effectiveness is achieved by the larger scale of operation; and (iv) by contributing support for a University-based facility, the UMCCC not only benefits directly, but strengthens the local research community as a whole. The DNA Sequencing and Protein Analysis Core has been providing services to UMCCC researchers since 1988. The facility (and the BRCF on which it is based) has continually expanded and adapted to accommodate new needs and advances in technology. The MB Core expanded in 1996 to include DNA Sequencing, and is being reorganized in the current proposal to exclude oligonucleotide synthesis, a service that is now more feasible to obtain outside the University. Instruments are constantly being updated (for example, see discussion of new mass spectrometers and DNA sequencers, below) as are the analytical protocols.
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