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Our equipment and services

Find out more about our instruments and the expertise that we offer.

Contact us for more information, or take a look at the facilities we can offer to find out how you could benefit.

 

Services

  • Investigation of protein properties, stability and interaction
  • Analysis of macromolecular hydrodynamics and ligand binding
  • Protein MW and ligand binding in solution
  • CD, UV-visible and fluorescence spectrometry

Equipment

Circular dichroism

We have a J-1500 system from Jasco, installed in summer 2019, with 150W xenon lamp covering 800 to 180 nm, and a Peltier temperature control system for 10degC to 95 degC thermal ramp experiments. A range of cuvettes is available.

Circular dichromator

Isothermal titration calorimetry

The Microcal VP-ITC system is a robust and reliable instrument working between ~10 degC and 60 degC useful for protein, non-protein and small molecule applications where sufficient samples is available.

Isothermal titration calorimeter

SEC-MALLS

Our SECMALLS installation comprises a Shimadzu LC20 HPLC system coupled to Wyatt Heleos-II 18-angle LS and Optilab rEX RI detectors. A range of Superdex and other columns are available, or check with us about using your own.

SEC-MALLS

NanoDSF and MST

These Nanotemper systems use samples in small glass capillaries to investigate protein behaviour. The Nano-DSF investigates protein stability by intrinsic (Trp) fluorescence changes on a temperature ramp; whereas the MST monitors interactions with ligands using fluorescent dye labelled molecules.

Fluorometry

Our Jobin-Yvon Fluoromax-4 covers visible to UV wavelengths and is equipped with calcite polarisers and a waterbath thermostatted cuvette holder.

Fluorometer

Plate readers

We have a BMG Clariostar multimode plate reader for full spectrum absorbance, monochromator based fluorescence, and luminescence reading on up to 1536 well plates. Filter based TRF and FP assays are also available.

Plate readers

Surface plasmon resonance

The Biacore T200 is a Series S system using 4-channel chips for interaction studies of proteins with small molecules or other proteins. Ligands can be immobilised onto the chips in various ways, then analyte samples passed over the surface to measure equilibrium or kinetics of binding.

 Surface plasmon resonance

Analytical ultracentrifugation

The Beckman Optima XL/I system has absorption and Rayleigh (interference) optics for study of the hydrodynamics (sedimentation and diffusion) of protein and other samples by centrifugation in special optical cells. This provides valuable information on size and shape preparatory to more detailed structural studies.

Analytical ultracentrifugation

Gel Scanners

The Typhoon-5 is a gel and blot scanner with red, green and blue and two NIR lasers and a range of filters. It is also capable of image plate scanning for radioisotope applications. A Typhoon-8610 is also available.