We wish to encourage PI's to discuss collaborative projects in which PCTC staff could participate. These projects will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and principally involve complex and/or time-consuming experiments in peptide synthesis or mass spectrometric analysis. Below are some examples:

Chemistry Projects

Technology exists in the PCTC which allows us to chemically synthesize small protein sequences up to approx 150 residues. This approach is useful for rapid mutation of short sequences within a protein molecule or introduce site-directed modifications e.g. isotopic labels, fluorescent probes, phosphate groups or biotin etc, onto specific amino acids. In addition, a semi-synthetic approach, called expressed protein ligation can also be offered.

Mass Spectrometry Projects

Our state-of-the-art mass spectrometry facility is well equipped and able to handle complex biological samples. 2D-LC has proven very effective for simplifying the analysis of complex samples from cell lysates and biological samples. We can undertake a variety of MS experiments including the study of differential protein expression levels in normal and disease states, using iTRAQ and ICAT technology. ICAT allows the comparison of two samples at MS level, while iTRAQ enables additional information to be obtained by comparing up to four samples at MSMS level.