The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC-Charlotte) seeks NIH support to purchase a Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) instrument, which will be the first of its kind in the Charlotte area. The MST instrument will provide an innovative research capability to an interdisciplinary group of biomedical researchers at UNC- Charlotte and will enhance their active research projects requiring the quantification of biomolecular interactions. The MST technology will enable experiments that are not possible with currently available techniques by addressing the several vital issues. First, the most critical barrier to our projects is the small amount and large cost of available samples. MST measurement only needs microliter sample quantities and has low experimental cost. Second, several projects require assessing interactions in physiologically-relevant, native-like environments (complex biofluids and cell lysates). MST is currently the only method that allows quantifying interactions in such environments. Third, MST has simple experimental design and allows fast data acquisition/analysis, which are critical for projects requiring the quantitative assessment of many interactions. Finally, the broad range of accessible affinities by the requested instrument, nM to mM, is significant for several projects where low affinity interactions are studied. The UNC-Charlotte is committed to enhance and expand the biomedical research as demonstrated by its investment in hiring new faculty in this area and in building the infrastructure for support of shared research instrumentation used for biomolecular characterization, to which the requested MST instrument will be a significant addition. Furthermore, the MST instrument will enrich training of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scientists by adding a new technical skills, while facilitating their research projects.
The requested Microscale Thermophoresis Monolith NT.115 will enable fast and accurate quantification of a broad variety of key biomolecular interactions in physiologically relevant environments for a group of biomedical researchers at UNC-Charlotte. The data collected with the Monolith NT.115 instrument for a variety of NIH-funded projects will provide key insights, which currently cannot be achieved by other methods, into several physiologic and pathologic processes related to cancer, gene therapy, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, bacterial polysaccharide biosynthesis, and will aid in the development of high affinity antibodies, anti- bacterial agents, immunocompatible therapeutic nucleic acids, and new pharmacological formulations.
