Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989077
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$225,600.00
Summary
Regional Facility for Real Time Analysis of Molecular Interactions. The ARC Facility for the Analysis of Biomacromolecular Interactions at the University of Wollongong and ANU serves many research groups working at the interface of chemistry and biology with the ultimate aim of drug target identification and drug development. New state-of-the-art instrumentation will enhance their capabilities and enable new activities. Specifically, the new instruments will facilitate characterization of macrom ....Regional Facility for Real Time Analysis of Molecular Interactions. The ARC Facility for the Analysis of Biomacromolecular Interactions at the University of Wollongong and ANU serves many research groups working at the interface of chemistry and biology with the ultimate aim of drug target identification and drug development. New state-of-the-art instrumentation will enhance their capabilities and enable new activities. Specifically, the new instruments will facilitate characterization of macromolecular complexes and enable rapid and precise study in real time of the rates at which molecules interact, under many different experimental conditions. It will strengthen existing collaborations among the partner institutions and provide essential infrastructure for drug development projects.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100199
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$475,000.00
Summary
Establishment of the Protein Quantitation Centre of South Australia (PQCSA). Determining the protein quantities in culture cells, plant material, biological fluids and entire organisms will provide critical information regarding biological processes in plants and other organisms. The facility will allow the project to progress the understanding of complex biological systems.
Proteome mapping of the model fungal plant pathogen Stagonospora nodorum using LC-LC-MS/MS. Stagonospora nodorum is a fungus that causes leaf and glume blotch disease on wheat. This disease alone causes $55 million dollars in yield losses per annum in Australia. This project aims to identify the proteins produced by Stagonospora nodorum through the development of a new proteomics technique. Two clear benefits to the community resulting from this project will emerge. The first will be the expert ....Proteome mapping of the model fungal plant pathogen Stagonospora nodorum using LC-LC-MS/MS. Stagonospora nodorum is a fungus that causes leaf and glume blotch disease on wheat. This disease alone causes $55 million dollars in yield losses per annum in Australia. This project aims to identify the proteins produced by Stagonospora nodorum through the development of a new proteomics technique. Two clear benefits to the community resulting from this project will emerge. The first will be the expert training of a student in proteomics, a skill that is keenly sought. Secondly, the identification of these pathogen proteins will lead to new strategies to better control the disease and secure the supply of wheat.Read moreRead less
Identification of structural proteins in the tissue cyst wall of Toxoplasma gondii. Most infections with Toxoplasma gondii are asymptomatic, however, infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or blindness, deafness and mental retardation in the developing baby. Furthermore, in AIDS patients, toxoplasmosis is the leading cause of fatal encephalitis as the normally dormant tissue cysts are reactivated in the absence of an effective immune system. In Australia, it has been estimated that ~ ....Identification of structural proteins in the tissue cyst wall of Toxoplasma gondii. Most infections with Toxoplasma gondii are asymptomatic, however, infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or blindness, deafness and mental retardation in the developing baby. Furthermore, in AIDS patients, toxoplasmosis is the leading cause of fatal encephalitis as the normally dormant tissue cysts are reactivated in the absence of an effective immune system. In Australia, it has been estimated that ~30% of the population is infected with T. gondii and the occurrence of congenital toxoplasmosis is 0.2% of live births, which translates to roughly 500 cases/year. Our research will identify structural proteins in Toxoplasma cyst walls that will lead to the design of new strategies to control the diseases caused by these parasites.Read moreRead less
Using the fractionation of hydrogen and carbon isotopes to analyse the mechanisms of the primary processes of photosynthesis. The primary processes of CO2 fixation and reduction in photosynthesis leave their signatures in the isotopic composition of organic matter. Although these signatures are used widely in geochemistry, biology and climatology to infer the dynamics and history of the biosphere, the information they provide about the mechanisms of the processes that produce them has not been e ....Using the fractionation of hydrogen and carbon isotopes to analyse the mechanisms of the primary processes of photosynthesis. The primary processes of CO2 fixation and reduction in photosynthesis leave their signatures in the isotopic composition of organic matter. Although these signatures are used widely in geochemistry, biology and climatology to infer the dynamics and history of the biosphere, the information they provide about the mechanisms of the processes that produce them has not been exploited fully. We propose to map the underlying biochemistry responsible for fractionation of hydrogen isotopes, to assess its ability to indicate the water relations of plants, and to use carbon-isotope discrimination to probe the catalytic chemistry of the CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco.Read moreRead less
New Methods for Structural Biology in Solution. This project aims to expand the range of applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in pharmaceutical research, where NMR spectroscopy is already used routinely for the identification of chemical compounds that bind to protein targets. The techniques developed aim at providing rapid and broadly applicable tools for 3D structure determinations of chemical compounds bound to their protein target, identification of protein-protein i ....New Methods for Structural Biology in Solution. This project aims to expand the range of applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in pharmaceutical research, where NMR spectroscopy is already used routinely for the identification of chemical compounds that bind to protein targets. The techniques developed aim at providing rapid and broadly applicable tools for 3D structure determinations of chemical compounds bound to their protein target, identification of protein-protein interaction sites and characterization of protein motions. The limits of NMR spectroscopy will be pushed to analyse systems of significantly increased molecular weights. The project includes applications to drug targets such as the dengue virus NS2B/NS3 protease.Read moreRead less
New Methods for Structural Biology in Solution. New technologies will be developed that are sufficiently rapid and inexpensive to compete with and replace the mutagenesis experiments that biologists usually perform to identify and characterize the functionally important parts of a protein. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques in combination with various selective labelling schemes will be developed with the goal of identification and structural characterization of protein-lig ....New Methods for Structural Biology in Solution. New technologies will be developed that are sufficiently rapid and inexpensive to compete with and replace the mutagenesis experiments that biologists usually perform to identify and characterize the functionally important parts of a protein. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques in combination with various selective labelling schemes will be developed with the goal of identification and structural characterization of protein-ligand interactions at increased rates and enhanced accuracy. In addition, the three-dimensional structures of proteins and protein domains of biologically important functions and unknown fold will be determined by NMR. The project aims at techniques of direct impact in pharmaceutical industry.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100122
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$725,000.00
Summary
Hydrogen-deuterium exchange system - a missing link in protein analysis . Proteins are highly dynamic molecules that are essential to life. This project aims to acquire a fully automated and integrated hydrogen-deuterium exchange system, a powerful tool for analysing the motion of proteins and their interactions with other molecules. Expected outcomes include a new capability for biology labs around Australia by (1) increasing success rates of difficult projects that aim to visualise 3D protein ....Hydrogen-deuterium exchange system - a missing link in protein analysis . Proteins are highly dynamic molecules that are essential to life. This project aims to acquire a fully automated and integrated hydrogen-deuterium exchange system, a powerful tool for analysing the motion of proteins and their interactions with other molecules. Expected outcomes include a new capability for biology labs around Australia by (1) increasing success rates of difficult projects that aim to visualise 3D protein structures and (2) providing rapid information about protein interaction sites. Anticipated benefits include the generation of dynamic data that will be highly complementary to static pictures of protein structures. This will enable clever design of new proteins with beneficial uses in the biotechnology industry.Read moreRead less
Fluorine-labelled proteins for NMR spectroscopy. The technique developed in this project has direct impact on pharmaceutical research: NMR spectroscopy is used routinely to identify chemical compounds that bind to protein targets. This project includes the development of novel assignment techniques of 19F-labelled proteins, so that 19F-NMR can be used to detect specific binding interactions. One of the methods proposed here is designed to reveal structural information about the binding mode in s ....Fluorine-labelled proteins for NMR spectroscopy. The technique developed in this project has direct impact on pharmaceutical research: NMR spectroscopy is used routinely to identify chemical compounds that bind to protein targets. This project includes the development of novel assignment techniques of 19F-labelled proteins, so that 19F-NMR can be used to detect specific binding interactions. One of the methods proposed here is designed to reveal structural information about the binding mode in solution with atomic detail. This knowledge can significantly accelerate drug development. It is otherwise only available from crystal structures that can not always be determined.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775529
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$300,000.00
Summary
Structural elucidation by chemical degradation mass spectrometry using a linear ion trap with electron transfer dissociation. The mass spectrometric instrumentation that we plan to acquire represents a true breakthrough in technology, and will be the first of its kind in operation in Australia. The instrument to be purchased will improve the ability of a wide cross section of researchers to characterize compounds important in fields as varied as medical research, agricultural biotechnology, and ....Structural elucidation by chemical degradation mass spectrometry using a linear ion trap with electron transfer dissociation. The mass spectrometric instrumentation that we plan to acquire represents a true breakthrough in technology, and will be the first of its kind in operation in Australia. The instrument to be purchased will improve the ability of a wide cross section of researchers to characterize compounds important in fields as varied as medical research, agricultural biotechnology, and natural product characterization. All types of chemical research, from fundamental to applied, will benefit from access to this system, which has clearly positive implications with regard to societal impact. Implementing this type of frontier technology is an essential step in maintaining the world class capabilities of the Australian research community.Read moreRead less