This proposal requests funding for instrumentation to further develop a comprehensive and integrated core facility for the structural characterization of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids and their organic synthesis for use as reagents. The PIs propose to purchase an automated DNA sequencing instrument to facilitate the analysis of DNA sequences. In addition to the major users of DNA sequencing, the PIs have a relatively large number of users who sequence a few KB of DNA per year that could benefit from this instrument. Currently one of the major services of the existing core facilities is in the synthesis of oligopeptides and oligonucleotides. Demand for synthetic peptides is increasing for use as models of protein structure and function and the production of anti-peptide antibodies. Anti-peptide antibodies are useful reagents for identifying gene products and probing the relationships between protein structure and function. The rate limiting step in the production of synthetic peptides has become the purification of the desired product by HPLC as most of the users do not have their own chromatography instrumentation. Funding for critical supporting instruments such as liquid chromatographs to purify synthetic peptides and capillary electrophoresis equipment to assess purity is also requested. Chromatography equipment is requested for the isolation of proteins prior to sequencing.
