This request for a Shared Instrumentation Grant seeks funds for the purchase of an automated, high sensitivity amino acid analysis system and a protein/peptide sequencer. Use of these instruments will be shared by eight NIH grantees. These instruments will make available more rapid structural analyses of proteins and peptides; the data from which are an integral part and of great importance to the overall objectives of the investigations by these researchers. Currently, these analyses are being performed in the University of Virginia Protein and Nucleic Acid Research Facility. However, since this Facility serves researchers throughout the University as well as the Commonwealth, the instrument availability is totally saturated with sample turnover times of typically three to four weeks due to heavy demand. The eight investigators in this proposal realize the pressing need to expedite the production of structural data in order to maintain steady progress in their research programs. Thus, the requested instrumentation will play an important and necessary role in a large number of topically unrelated research projects, none of which would individually justify the purchase of such instrumentation. We hope to provide evidence showing the value of this instrumentation in the structural characterization of proteins and peptides as relevant to each researcher's needs.
