Funds are requested for instrumentation necessary to establish the fermentation protein of a complete Cell Culture Facility in the Institute for Biological Research and Technology at the University of South Carolina. This facility will replace an unusable 28 L fermenter, and will provide a wide range of fermentation services to the University community. The User Group includes faculty from the Department of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, as well as the College of Pharmacy and School of Medicine. The scope of projects to be supported by this instrumentation includes: (1) studies on the structure and function of hemeiron oxygenase enzymes; (2) mechanistic studies on thymidylate synthase; (3) studies on mammalian gene expression; (4) work on thymidylate synthase and fluoropyrimidine resistance; (5) structure function studies on matrix vesicle annexins; (6) using selenium as a probe of structure/function of biomacromolecules; (7) examining physiology, ecology, and evolution of bacterial functional group; (8) studies of the genetics of coal solubiolization; (9) mechanism of gene regulation in Caulobacter; (10) structural studies of rat spermatid transition protein 2; (11) examining the interaction of antitumor agents azinomycin A and B with DNA; (12) mechanistic studies of enolase; (13) cell division gene products of Bacillus subtilis; (14) role of human papillomaviruses in the transformation of human cells; (15) formation and role of pseudouridine in mRNA splicing cofactors; (16) preclinical evaluation of a human recombinant alph B/D hybrid interferon in therapy of hepatitis and papillomavirus infections; and (17) integrins and their interaction with the extracellular matrix.
