The IMBM Proteomics Laboratory is fully equipped with state of the art facilities for conducting high-throughput and large scale 2-D gel analysis and global identification of proteins from a variety of organisms.  We are also equipped with the most advanced system for protein profiling and biomarker discovery.   The following is a list of our available equipment: 1. InvestigatorTM 2-D Electrophoresis system (2 units) – A large-format (22 x 23 cm gels), high-throughput 2-D gel system capable of running up to 10 gels per day.  It utilizes a discontinuous buffer system with integrated cooling to ensure reproducible protein migration and to minimize spot diffusion.  Included in the system is a pHaser, an instrument for isoelectric focusing using 18 cm immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips in a variety of pH ranges.  A single programmable power supply is used for both the first and second dimension runs.   2. InvestigatorTM Gel Processor Automated Staining Robot  (1 unit) – A portable, automated staining robot capable of staining 10 large format gels at a time.  With self contained reagents and touch pad programming, it provides the user with the capability to customize up to 10 different staining protocols.  The gel processor is compatible with silver, coomassie and fluorescent staining procedures.  Our laboratory most often uses the sesitive, fluorescent SYPRO Ruby gel stain.   3. Fujifilm LAS-1000 Plus Imaging System  (1 unit) – A CCD based imaging system capable of acquiring images from luminescent and fluorescent dyes.  It has a maximum image capacity of 2.5 MB (full-size images) per image.  The system has state of the art white light and blue LEDs for enhanced sample illumination / excitation.   4. InvestigatorTM ProPic Protein Picking Workstation  (1 unit) – A spot excision robot used for accurate, high speed excision of protein spots from 1-D or 2-D gels.  It has an advanced internal liquid handling system and hydrates the gel based upon user-defined parameters in the ProPic control software.  The user can pick candidate protein spots through manual selection or an automated database search.  An integrated UV light box allows UV excitiation of fluorescently stained proteins on 2-D gels.   5. InvestigatorTM ProGest Protein Digestion Station (1 unit) – A fully enclosed robot used for automated in-gel enzymatic digestion of 96 samples at a time.  The robot utilizes stainless steel probes to avoid protein loss due to contact with pipet tips.  The robot uses a “flow-through” system of liquid handling and nitrogen purging to avoid probe contact with the gel plugs at all times.  The ProGest is equipped with a heating stage and an embedded microprocessor for touch screen programming.  An intuitive software editor allows the user to edit existing protocols or to create their own.   6. InvestigatorTM ProMS MALDI Spotting Workstation (1 unit) –  A peptide de-salting and clean up robot which spots enzymatically digested protein samples to MALDI-MS target plates.  The robot is completely enclosed, reducing keratin contamination of samples.  It is capable of spotting sub-microliter amounts of peptides (de-salted and concentrated by reverse phase chromatography on C18 resin microcolumns) to all available MALDI platens.   7. Axima-CFR MALDI Mass Spectrometer (1 unit) -  Manufactured by Kratos Analytical, this high throughput mass spectrometer provides the user with a combination of high mass accuracy (10 ppm), resolution (> 10,000), and sub-picomole sensitivity.  The control software, Launchpad, includes a range of features for automated data acquisition including auto-quality, auto-tuning, and auto-selection of parent ions for seamless post source decay (sPSD).  For the purpose of protein identificaiton, the Kratos-On-Line-Analysis (KOLA) feature of Launchpad can access either a number of internet based database search engines or the intranet version of Mascot from Matrix Science Limited.  There is a wide range of interpretation tools to assist the user, such as peptide calculators, compound databases, and simulation software.   8. Ciphergen ProteinChip Biomarker System (1 unit) – the system is comprised of a SELDI (Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization) mass spectrometer (also called a ProteinChip Reader) that is integrated with a computer to analyze proteins captured on ProteinChip arrays. The ProteinChip arrays provide a variety of surface chemistries that allow optimization of  protein capture and analysis, i.e., hydrophobic surfaces for reversed-phase capture, cation- and anion-exchange surfaces, and immobilized metal affinity capture (IMAC) for metal-binding proteins.  Specific proteins of interest can be covalently immobilized on pre-activated surface arrays, thus enabling customized experiments to investigate antibody-antigen, DNA-protein, receptor-ligand, and other molecular interactions.  The system is used for protein profiling and biomarker discovery.   9. Biomek 2000 Laboratory Automation Workstation - designed for large scale automation of liquid-handling tasks and used in conjunction with the Ciphergen ProteinChip Biomarker system.  Pipetting, diluting and dispensing operations are performed quickly and automatically. The modular platform allows expansion of system capability to include plate heating and cooling, plate washing, high-density transfers, photometric measurement and high-capacity operation. The entire system is controlled by powerful and user-friendly BioWorks software, with an intuitive graphical interface.