: The Protein Interaction Facility at the University of Utah is interested in expanding its current biosensor technology base by acquiring shared instrument funding to purchase a BIAcore S51 optical biosensor. BIAcore S51, which represents an entirely new platform from BIAcore AB (Uppsala, Sweden), sets a new standard for state-of-the-art biosensor technology. The instrument has several advantages over the Facility's existing biosensor technology, including increased sensitivity, higher throughput, expanded instrument automation, enhanced data analysis software, and the ability to resolve faster reaction kinetics. Instrument time will be shared between six NIH-funded investigators to support basic and applied research involving anticancer agents, HIV assembly, cell signaling, fibril elongation, apoptotic proteins, and cation binding. Each of these investigators has previous experience in applying BIAcore technology in their research and all have a current need for the enhanced capabilities of this new platform. The instrument will be maintained and operated within a well-established University-supported Core Facility, whose function is to provide easy access to instrumentation and expertise required for molecular interaction analysis. The Protein Interaction Facility currently employs the Director and three Ph.D.-level scientists, all of whom are well versed in the application of biosensor technology. When time permits, the BIAcore S51 will be made available for use by external researchers as part of the Facility's effort to establish a national center for biomolecular interaction analysis.
Zhai, Qianting; Fisher, Robert D; Chung, Hyo-Young et al. (2008) Structural and functional studies of ALIX interactions with YPX(n)L late domains of HIV-1 and EIAV. Nat Struct Mol Biol 15:43-9 |