The Biacore 3000 system utilizes surface plasmon resonance technology to provide automated and sensitive technology for for label free studies of biomolecular binding. Samples ranging from small molecules to crude extracts, lipid vesicles, viruses, bacteria and eucaryotic cells can be studied. General advantages of SPR technology include being rapid, sensitive, versatile, small amount of material used, and is label-free. The only currently available instrument is a bialite upgrade that is deficient in automation, temperature range and sensitivity, even when compared to the regular BiacoreX. The users have applications which will examine protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid and protein drug interactions. The core group in this application has experience, including publications, using this technology via the use of the modified BiacoreX (bialite upgrade) instrument. The limitations of the BiacoreX include the lack of automatic sample handling, decreased sensitivity, limited temperature use range and use of only one-half of the flow cells on the sensor chip. In addition, the-3000 is designed for individual sample characterization where the highest resolution in kinetic analysis is essential and the range goes from as little as 4 RU to 70000. Upgrading to the 3000 will overcome all of these limitations, allowing much greater flexibility in experiment design and types of analyses that are possible. The instrument will be placed in the nucleic acids research core facility, run by Dr. Greg Buck, one of the core users of the instrument. A dedicated operator has been identified to run samples and assist users with data analysis. This set-up will allow much greater access to the instrument for both the core users as well as the research community as a whole. Support for the instrument operation and maintenance will be through user fees as well as university support from the cancer center and life sciences center.
