A shared resource for the computerized analysis of proteins separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and the compilation of information to build protein databases is requested. This facility would be comprised of commercially available software marketed by Protein Databases, Inc. for the scanning and quantitation of two-dimensional gels and a Sun computer system with graphic capabilities. This resource represents instrumentation and software which is on the forefront of protein analysis and would be one of less than a dozen such facilities in the world. Users will be able to scan and digitize autoradiograms from gels run in their laboratory or run commercially, as well as silver stained gels. The software will allow matching of the patterns on the digitized gel images, quantitation of thousands or proteins, the building of protein databases, and the use of public databases. users will have access to two terminals and will output their data by several means, including numerical quantitation, graphs representing experimental changes in each protein spot and large spot maps depicting a synthetic gel image of proteins located by molecular weight, isoelectric point and data base number. The long-term goals to be addressed using this facility are to identify proteins involved in cell specificity, cell differentiation and cell regulation. In addition, the facility will be used to communicate information on proteins from experiment to experiment, as well as from laboratory to laboratory around the world through the use of public databases. The collaborative user group requesting this instrumentation will rely heavily on this resource to identify proteins involved in 1) neuronal and glial cell differentiation, 2) glucocorticoid and growth factor action, 3) cell transformation and oncogenesis, 4) cell responses to neurotoxins, 5) hematopoiesis, 6) membrane transport systems, and 7) Alzheimer's disease and aging. The unique application of applying this commercially available software to the analysis of ultrahigh-resolution giant 2D gels is also proposed. Since the proposed facility has the capacity to quantify and store information on thousands of proteins, it promises to significantly enhance progress toward the identification of proteins involved in disease.
