Proteomics and Metabolomics

The Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility

The Scottish Structural Proteomics Facility (SSPF) is a collaborative high
throughput structural genomics project involving the Universities of St. Andrews, Dundee, Glasgow and Warwick. The facility, which is run on a
collaborative basis, has an excellent track record of converting gene sequences into structural data, and has experience with both membrane and soluble proteins. SPPF staff have expertise in cloning, expression, purification and crystallisation, and new subjects for analysis can enter the pipeline with anything from a gene through to pure protein or even a crystal. SULSA has supported the development of the SSPF by contributing to the enhancement of equipment and by providing funding for four SULSA technologists within the facility.

Contact Secretary@sspf.ac.uk

Edinburgh Protein Production Facility

The Edinburgh Protein Production Facility (EPPF) provides researchers with access to state-of-the-art equipment and expertise for rapid protein production. The SULSA-supported EPPF labs, located at the University of Edinburgh, include a purification suite, an extensive core column and chromatography resin library, high throughput robotic cloning and screening facilities, incubation areas, a tissue culture suite, and a set of core wet labs with access to automated cell lysis, centrifugation, and
analysis instrumentation. Users of the EPPF benefit from the expertise of facility staff, including a SULSA technologist, who are highly trained in
protein expression and purification.

Contact
Dr Martin Wear
mwear@staffmail.ed.ac.uk

Biophysical Characterisation Facility

The SULSA-supported Biophysical Characterisation Facility (BCF) at the
University of Edinburgh offers state-of-theart equipment for crystallisation robotics, ITC, surface plasmon resonance, NMR, light scattering and fluorescent spectroscopy. Technical support is provided by expert BCF facility staff, including two SULSA technologists.

Contact
Dr Martin Wear
mwear@staffmail.ed.ac.uk

Scottish Metabolomics Facility

Metabolomics is a relatively new approach in biological and biomedical
research, in which thousands of metabolites that represent the dynamic
status of a living system are measured simultaneously. Environmental perturbations or genetic changes are reflected in changes in metabolite levels. Metabolomics is, therefore, a key tool in systems biology and systems medicine. The SULSA-funded Scottish Metabolomics Facility (ScotMet), is a state-of-the-art facility combining mass spectrometry, separations technology and bioinformatics. It is a collaboration between
the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde that builds on relevant, long-standing expertise at these centres. ScotMet aims to provide a world-class facility staffed by experts in metabolomics, working closely with leaders in the fields of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, who can provide training, sample analysis and collaboration on experimental design and data handling.

Contact
Professor Andrew Pitt
a.pitt@bio.gla.ac.uk