This is an NIH-NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant to purchase an ABI Procise 491 cLC protein sequencer for the Indiana University School of Medicine. We have a core of four NIH-funded user groups who will occupy 90 percent of the available instrument time. The titles of the projects are: 1) Genomic Approach to Determining Phosphorylation Targets for Protein Kinases, 2) Identification of the Phosphoprotein Phosphatases Responsible for Regulation of the Branched-Chain alpha-Ketoacid Dehydrogenase and Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complexes, 3) Identification and Structural Characterization of Cardiac Sarcoplasmic Proteins Required for Calcium Uptake and Release, 4) Identification of retinoid metabolizing enzymes in hepatic stellate cells. There is an additional core of ten other NIH-funded users who have expressed an interest in protein sequencing and will occupy the remaining 10 percent of the instrument time. There is no generally available protein sequencer on the Medical School campus. The Procise cLC will be placed in the newly formed interdisciplinary Center for Structural Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine whose goal is to provide state-of-the-art instrumentation and faculty consultants for researchers interesting in characterizing the structural properties of biologic macromolecules. The day-to-day operations of the Center will be coordinated by a full-time Scientific Director. Indiana University and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have committed funds for the support of the Scientific Director and for maintenance of the Procise cLC protein sequencer.
