OF THE BIACORE S200 SHARED INSTRUMENT FACILITY FOR THE DREXEL-SIDNEY KIMMEL CANCER CENTER/THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY (DREXEL-SKCC/TJU) CONSORTIUM The goal of the Drexel-SKCC/TJU Biacore S200 surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor shared instrument facility is to support and enhance progress of NIH-funded and developing biomedical research projects. These projects investigate fundamental biomolecular interaction mechanisms and structure-function-based therapeutics design in the fields of cancer, infectious diseases, and biomaterials for tissue regeneration. Since being introduced in the early 1990's, real-time SPR biosensor analysis has evolved into a highly versatile technology for investigating quantitative kinetic and equilibrium binding properties of biological macromolecules. Furthermore, it can be used to facilitate agonist and antagonist discovery for both therapeutic leads and mechanistic probes. Recently introduced SPR instruments, including of particular interest to us the Biacore S200, enable high sensitivity and high capacity analyses at a wide range of molecular size and affinity. The S200 is a robust and empowering resource to drive biomolecular recognition discovery, structure-activity relationship analysis and pharmacophore design and testing. As the underlying molecular components causing disease are identified, SPR interaction analysis is having an increasingly powerful impact on determining molecular mechanisms underlying disease pathogenesis and stimulating paths to molecular intervention discovery and translation. We believe that the Biacore S200 biosensor and its advanced interaction kinetics analysis capabilities will enhance the established and developing projects of geographically neighboring Drexel University and Thomas Jefferson University NIH-funded users. The alignment with the SKCC will maximize impact by serving an expanded research community investigating cancer and cancer-associated diseases, including HIV- 1. The SKCC has successfully received a five-year NIH competing renewal (P30 CA056036) starting in Spring 2018. Through the SKCC association, the S200 Facility will benefit from the SKCC infrastructure, and at the same time, its availability and usage will benefit the SKCC by reinforcing and inspiring molecular mechanism research development throughout the SKCC investigator community. The S200 facility will be directed by a team of productive Drexel researchers led by a senior faculty member with long-standing experience with SPR biosensor usage in NIH-funded research programs, and by a facility manager with deep hands-on expertise in biosensor interaction analysis science and core facility service. The Biacore S200 Shared Instrument Facility will be associated with the X-Ray Crystallography and Molecular Characterizations Shared Resource of the SKCC, and will provide a strong strategic complement to existing biophysical instrumentation of the Resource. Administrative oversight will be provided by a Drexel-SKCC/TJU advisory committee organized through the SKCC consortium. Long-term, the Drexel-SKCC/TJU S200 facility will increase the productivity of NIH-funded biomedical research in the user group and inspire the advancement of a renewing biomedical research enterprise.
The Drexel-SKCC/TJU Biacore S200 surface plasmon resonance biosensor shared instrument facility will increase the productivity of fundamental and translational biomedical research in cancer and cancer-related diseases, infectious diseases and bio-materials for tissue regeneration.
