The newly organized Peptide Synthesis Core Facility (PSCF) contains a dedicated fume hood for peptide deprotection and cleavage. Its instrumentation includes a new CEM Liberty automated Microwave Multiple CHS Peptide Synthesizer, a new Waters Preparative Scale AutoPurification HPLC System for high-throughput applications, a Varian analytical scale HPLC for assessing product purity, three Savant preparative scale speed-vacs, and a new Virtis BenchTop6K freeze dryer. The facility hopes to soon purchase a compact Waters 3100 Mass Detector that is specifically designed for Waters AutopPurification HPLC system increasing productivity and the quality of our service to the UCLA community.

This core facility was established to serve the needs of UCLA faculty performing multifaceted investigations of peptides. The facility will provide peptides that are difficult to synthesize, fold, and purify, e.g., beta-sheet peptides with multiple disulfide connectives, cyclic peptides, or amyloid peptides. In addition, the PSCF will synthesize isotope-edited versions of proteins and peptides suitable for detailed determinations of three-dimensional molecular structure by NMR spectroscopy or X-ray diffraction.

Alan Waring
awaring@mednet.ucla.edu

Piotr Ruchala
Pruchala@mednet.ucla.edu