Advances in molecular cloning technologies have made it possible to generate large quantities of diverse proteins in micro-organisms, in order to study the biological and physical properties of these proteins. The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Virginia has a long history of biophysical studies on diverse biological systems and several of the faculty, particularly the faculty recently recruited, have research projects designed around studies of such recombinant proteins. Of the 13 full time faculty, 8 are either using recombinant proteins or plan to use them in the near future. One problem with this approach to the generation of research material is in assembling the hardware necessary for the isolation of these proteins from bacterial, or other types of, cells. We have not had a long history of bacteriology or large scale protein purification and so our resources which were once adequate for our biochemical needs are now completely inadequate for generation of recombinant proteins. This shortfall is compounded by the fact that for many of the projected biophysical studies particularly large amounts of protein are required. We propose to purchase the basic instrumentation for moderate scale isolation of recombinant proteins from E. coli, yeast, and other cells.
