A surface plasmon resonance facility for label-free analysis of biomolecular interactions

用于生物分子相互作用无标记分析的表面等离子体共振装置

• 批准号: BB/S019529/1
• 负责人: Edward Tate
• 金额: $ 23.28万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FS019529%2F1
• 关键词: surface; plasmon; resonance; facility; label

Life at the molecular level relies on a multitude of intimate, reversible interactions. In the case of macromolecules like proteins, these interactions are responsible for the formation of large multi-subunit complexes, like those that stabilise machineries required to synthesise our genetic material (DNA and RNA polymerases) and all proteins in our body (ribosomes). Other contacts are necessary to stabilise structures that are visible to the naked eye, like the keratin in our hair and nails or the collagen fibres that serve as a flexible scaffold to support different tissues. Some of these interactions are transient, lasting less than a second, whereas others have much longer lifetimes. Determining the strength and the speed of these interactions is essential to identify their biological relevance, e.g. to learn how cells assemble our bodies, generate energy and combat different types of infections. This information is also the basis of important agricultural, biotechnological, medical and industrial applications. For example, modern agrochemical and drug design involves development of a specific ligand (acting as a 'key') that modulates a protein in our cells (acting as a 'lock'). Starting with a poorly binding 'key', cycles of modification with new chemical entities and binding analyses are required to obtain improved versions that recognise a desired 'lock' - leading to compounds that we eventually see as drugs in the market. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is currently the gold-standard technique to accurately measure these interactions. Our aim is to replace obsolete equipment at Imperial College London with the latest SPR equipment to allow researchers to accelerate their investigations with this technology.

分子水平的生活取决于多种亲密的，可逆的相互作用。对于蛋白质等大分子，这些相互作用是为了形成大型多生成络合物，例如稳定稳定我们遗传物质（DNA和RNA聚合酶）和所有蛋白质（核糖体）所需的机器的相互作用。对于稳定肉眼可见的结构，需要其他接触，例如我们的头发和指甲中的角蛋白，或用作支撑不同组织的柔性脚手架的胶原蛋白纤维。其中一些相互作用是短暂的，持续不到一秒钟，而另一些相互作用的寿命更长。确定这些相互作用的强度和速度对于确定它们的生物学相关性至关重要，例如要了解细胞如何组装我们的身体，产生能量并打击不同类型的感染。这些信息也是重要的农业，生物技术，医学和工业应用的基础。例如，现代的农业和药物设计涉及开发特定的配体（充当“钥匙”），该配体调节我们的细胞中的蛋白质（充当“锁定”）。从结合较差的“钥匙”开始，需要与新化学实体和结合分析进行修改的循环，以获得改进的版本，以识别所需的“锁定” - 导致我们最终将其视为市场上的药物。表面等离子体共振（SPR）目前是准确测量这些相互作用的金标准技术。我们的目标是用最新的SPR设备替换伦敦帝国学院的过时设备，以使研究人员可以通过这项技术加速调查。