This proposal requests funding for the purchase of a state-of- the-art amino acid analyzer with a high degree of sensitivity for University of Hawaii's Biotechnology-Molecular Biology Instrumentation Facility. This facility has been assembled for the shared use of all University faculty who require services in protein sequencing, peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis and related services on a "fee-for-service" basis. However, the facility currently lacks a modern amino acid analyzer and the faculty's needs for protein compositional data have gone unmet. The only existing amino acid analyzer on campus, which is dedicated to one lab, is a Beckman 121 MB and is 11 years old. It is outdated in terms of sensitivity and is increasingly difficult to maintain for lack of spare parts. Having such routine analysis done on the mainland is unrealistic because of Hawaii's geographical isolation. The lack of an amino acid analyzer is a major deficiency which if corrected will significantly enhance the capacity of the core facility to provide services in macromolecular characterization for the University research community.
