Equipment and Facilities

X-ray facilities

Our X-ray facilities consist of two systems: a Rigaku rotating-anode X-ray generator (MicroMax 007) equipped with a Mar-345 image plate and an Oxford cryogenic system; Bruker Proteum system with CCD detector.

As usual, we regularly make trips to synchrotrons in the USA.

FPLC system

We have a modern Amersham Biosciences Akta FPLC (fast protein liquid chromatography) machine. This sophisticated computer-controlled FPLC helps us quickly purify the large quantities of proteins we need to grow crystals.

Plate Reader

We have a UV/Vis absorbance plate reader, the Bio Tek PowerWave XS. This machine makes Bradford assays fast and simple, and help us with enzyme kinetic studies.

Fermenter

We operate a New Brunswick biofermenter. This machine is great for growing bacterial and yeast cultures, yielding an enormous amount of biomass. We have recently upgraded this machine to make it computer-controlled and capable of growing 7 L fed-batch cultures.

Dynamic Light Scatterer

The Protein Solutions Dynapro light scatterer is used to determine to the size and oligomeric state of a protein in solution. We use this information helps us to plan protein crystallization trials and to interpret x-ray diffraction results.

Computers

Our work is very computationally intensive. We therefore have several powerful computers for diffraction analysis and protein visualization. These machines include:

A network of several Linux workstations with multiple processors for numeric computation and graphic visulization
Several high-end PCs

Other stuff

We have a variety of other equipment to support and enhance our research. These include:

Gradient thermocycler
UV/Vis spectrophotometer
Incubator/Shakers
Microcentrifuges
Protein/DNA gel and blotting equipment
Crystallization plate greaser
Ultra-cold freezers
Microscopes
and all kinds of other things....

Departmental Resources

We are lucky to have easy access to a variety of well-maintained, sophisticated equipment within the department. These include:

Constant-flow pressure cell disrupter
MALDI-TOF MS and ESI-MS/MS mass spectrometry machines
Biacore surface plasmon resonance machine
Isothermal titration calorimeter
Circular dichroism machine
NMR facilities
Gel documentation imagers
Phosphoimager
Film developer
Various incubators
Various mid- and ultra-high-speed centrifuges
Cell culture facilities
Electroporator
2-D gel rigs (and supporting instruments)
Large cold room
Sonicators