Acquisition of Proteomics Facilities

Smith College, Northampton MA

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to Smith College under the direction of Professor Stylianos P. Scordilis for support of proteomics instrumentation in the Center for Biochemistry including a high-pressure liquid chromatography-coupled mass spectrometer (LCMS) and a high resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis system (2-D PAGE) and partial support of an instructor who will facilitate the teaching and research uses of the new technologies, as well as their operation and maintenance. These new capabilities will allow the faculty and students of Smith College to separate, and completely and precisely identify proteins in complex mixtures from whole cell, tissue or organism extracts. This award supports students, from high school girls attending Smith's Summer Science and Engineering Program to undergraduate researchers, and faculty to engage in on-going interdisciplinary research that requires mass determination of small amounts of materials (nearly one millionth-trillionth of an ounce). Between 50-80 undergraduates within the life sciences, chemistry, engineering and geology departments will have direct use of these instruments annually, as will Smith faculty members and others in the Five College Consortium. Projects utilizing this technology will include explorations of: the gender differences in exercise-induced muscle growth and damage; the adhesion of bacteria to cells that cause urinary tract infections; how organisms balance oxygen utility and toxicity; how parasites evade the immune system; how DNA is damaged; and how microbes can remediate organic matter in the soil. Other uses of the instrumentation in existing courses will infuse these state-of-the-art methodologies into the fabric of the Smith College Science Center research culture and disseminate them to a wider audience. We foresee that this award will have several major impacts. It will provide the perfect medium in which to train a new generation of women scientists in state-of-the-art proteomics technologies at Smith, the nation's largest liberal arts college for women. Students attending our outreach programs as well as those enrolled in our undergraduate programming will learn about this instrumentation and be exposed to technologies usually only found at major research facilities. The new technologies in the Center for Biochemistry will help position Smith students and faculty to contribute at a national scale to some of the most pressing scientific issues of our times.