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DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY
FACILITIES
How we can help your research…
Contents
The Department of Biochemistry is one of the largest
Departments in the School of Biological Sciences at
the University of Cambridge. Our research portfolio
covers a broad range of scientific areas in modern
molecular and cellular biochemistry, with a strong
emphasis on structural biology.
Our research is supported by state of the art
instrumentation in dedicated research facilities that
are also open to outside users. We provide access in
multiple ways with different levels of support from our
dedicated staff, depending on your needs and
requirements.
The following pages will give you an overview of these
facilities and through the links to their websites you
will find for more detailed information. We hope that
some of the services we offer are of use to you and
will help you with your research.
Any questions? Please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Baculovirus Facility
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Biomolecular NMR Facility
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Biophysics Facility
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Crystallographic X-ray Facility
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DNA Sequencing
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Photography & Graphics
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Proteomics
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The Baculovirus Facility
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The Baculovirus Facility in the Department of Biochemistry was
established in 2003 to provide a dedicated service to express
proteins in insect cells. Since then we have undertaken over 800
jobs from within the University and from commercial organizations.
Many eukaryotic proteins
cannot be produced
efficiently in bacterial
expression systems, so the
Baculovirus Expression
Vector System (BEVS) has
been widely used in both the
research and industrial
communities for the
production of high levels of
properly post-translationally
modified, biologically active and functional recombinant eukaryotic
proteins.
The Baculovirus Facility provides a full range of services including:
Start up pack: everything to get you started, we generate virus from
your transfer vector, amplify the virus to a master stock, titre this and
undertake trial protein expression time courses in 2 insect cell lines,
with 3 MOIs and 4 time points
Protein expression in flasks: after obtaining optimal expression
conditions we can grow large volumes of infected cells to produce
large amounts of your protein
Protein expression in ‘wave bags’: we have large-scale Wavereactor
bags for growing larger-scale cultures of 10L/bag, when appropriate
We like to work collaboratively with our customers and are
available for consultation on projects whenever necessary.
We are happy to produce tailor
made packages to meet the
specific needs of any customer.
Increasingly the system is also being used to
express large multi-protein complexes, which
are essential to the understanding of biological
systems but very difficult to obtain in sufficient
quantity and quality.
Contact details:
Irina Ogay
email: [email protected]
(Facility Manager) Tel: 01223 333744
Darerca Owen
(Director)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 764824
Website: www2.bioc.cam.ac.uk/baculovirus/?b2013
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The Biomolecular NMR Facility
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The Biomolecular NMR Facility provides instrumentation,
research infrastructure and expertise for the Department of
Biochemistry and external units who want to use this versatile
technique to obtain data on
the structure and dynamics
of biological macromolecules.
The Department has a long
history of excellence in the
field of Biomolecular NMR.
Most standard protein and nucleic acid
experiments are performed routinely,
and non-standard or novel experiments
can be set up on request.
The facility staff welcome
collaborations, and will provide
assistance or training for users, although
a service is also available.
Four spectrometers are available
encompassing field strengths in the range 500-800 MHz:
Bruker Avancelll AV800 with 5 mm TXI CryoProbe (HCN/z) for
optimal sensitivity
Bruker Avancelll AV600 with 5 mm QCI CryoProbe (HCNF/z)
for optimal sensitivity and 19F observe/decouple capability
Bruker Avance DRX500 “Ultrashield” magnet with 5 mm TCI
CryoProbe (HCN/z) for optimal sensitivity
Bruker Avance DRX500 with 5 mm TXI RT probe (HCN/xyz) or
5 mm TXI RT probe (HCP/z) for the study of molecules
containing 31P (e.g. nucleic acids)
The instruments are all located
in the NMR Suite – four rooms
(00.08-00.10) in the sub-basement (level 00) of the Sanger Building.
Contact details:
Daniel Nietlispach
(Facility Manager)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 766149
Katherine Stott
(NMR Support)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 333669
Website: www.nmr.bioc.cam.ac.uk/?b2013
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The Biophysics Facility
The Biophysics Facility houses an extensive array of state-of-the-art
precision instruments for characterisation of macromolecules and
their interactions, underpinning the Department’s research efforts
in all aspects of structural biology, drug discovery, and beyond.
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Advice and training at all levels
are provided by the facility staff and other experienced users.
The instruments available currently include:
two isothermal titration calorimeters (Microcal/GE iTC200 and VP-ITC),
for quantification of interactions
The instruments are all located in the Biophysics Suite –
four interconnected rooms (0.14-0.17) in the basement
(level 0) of the Sanger Building.
an analytical ultracentrifuge (Beckman Optima XL-I) for analysis
of sedimentation coefficient and molecular mass
two BIACORE instruments (Biacore/GE T100 and 2000) for
measurement of kinetic and equilibrium binding constants of
ligands to an immobilised partner using microfluidics
a ForteBIO Octet for measurement of kinetic and equilibrium binding
constants using a 96-well plate with “Dip and Read” technology
a circular dichroism spectrophotometer (Aviv 410) for estimation of
protein secondary structure composition and analysis of
thermal stability
a real-time PCR detection system (Bio-rad iQ5) also suitable for
differential scanning fluorimetry/thermal-shift assays
Contact details:
a dynamic light scattering instrument (Malvern Zetasizer Nano S) for
measurement of molecular size
Katherine Stott
(Facility Manager)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 333669
Website: www.biophysics.bioc.cam.ac.uk/?b2013
Crystallographic X-ray Facility
The Facility has a comprehensive array of
state-of-the-art instruments used for 3-D
structure determination of biological
macromolecules as well as small organic
molecules. The Department has a proven
record of world-leading research performed in the area of structural
biology and protein crystallography.
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The instruments that are currently available include:
PHOENIX (Art Robbins Instruments) - high-speed liquid dispensing system for automated
setup of crystallisation trials.
ORYX6 (Douglas Instruments) - protein crystallisation system. Can be used for Microseed
Martix Screening, additive experiments, microbatch-under-oil and multi-variate optimisation.
FREEDOM EVO 100 (Tecan) - liquid handling platform used for creation and dispensation of
crystallisation screens into a variety of crystallisation plates.
ROCK IMAGER 500 (Formulatrix) - automated imaging system. Incubates and captures highquality, web-accessible images of crystallisation trials. Includes UV modification allowing
differentiation between salt and protein crystals.
CENTEO TG200 (Centeo Biosciences) - temperature-controlled optimisation of crystallisation
experiments.
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XCELL (Oxford Cryosystems) - pressure chamber for production of xenon heavy atom
derivatives.
The users of the Facility
have access to extensive
expertise in all areas of
X-ray crystallographic techniques. The facility welcomes
collaborations, although a service is provided as well. Remote usage
of the instruments is also available.
X8 PROTEUM (Bruker AXS) X-ray Diffraction Data Collection System including:
MISCROSTAR microfocus rotating anode X-ray generator
HELIOS MX high-brightness multilayer X-ray optics
PLATINUM135 CCD detector
BRUNO2 sample changing robot
KAPPA 4-axis goniometer
COBRA (by Oxford Cryosystems Ltd) non-liquid nitrogen sample cooler
PROTEUM 2 software suite driving the data acquisition and processing tasks
A number of stereo microscopes including two LED-powered Olympus SZX16 microscopes.
Contact details:
Dima Chirgadze
(Facility Manager)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 761857
Website: www.xray.bioc.cam.ac.uk/?b2013
DNA Sequencing
Sanger DNA Sequencing
The DNA Sequencing Facility began in 1992. We have an Applied
Biosystems (LifeTech) 3730XL D11NA Sequencer which we run in
both Sanger DNA sequencing and
Genemapper modes.
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Next-Gen Sequencing
The DNA Sequencing Facility in the Department of Biochemistry
began providing a Next-Generation Sequencing service in 2008,
with the acquisition of a Roche/454 GS FLX instrument. The GS
FLX has now been upgraded to use the latest FXL+ chemistry,
providing longer reads of up to 1,000 bp. In 2011, the Roche/454
GS Junior instrument was purchased for smaller projects and faster
turnaround. The latest addition
to the Next-Gen Sequencing
service is the Illumina MiSeq,
which produces short read
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length, high data throughput.
The Facility provides advice on
sequencing project design, the
costs involved and time-scales.
We run in 96-well plate format and
accept plates for run only as well as
performing complete DNA sequencing reactions.
A basic level of Bioinformatics is included in the service, with access
to a Bioinformatician collaborator for more in-depth analyses.
Contact details:
John Lester
(Facility Manager)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 333660
Shilo Dickens
(Genome Sequencing)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 333657
Website: www2.bioc.cam.ac.uk/~pflgroup/DNA_Facility/?b2013
Photography & Graphics
Hosted by the Department of Biochemistry in the Sanger Building,
this School of Biological Sciences facility is now able to offer its
services to other university departments and organisations in the
Cambridge area.
Our friendly and efficient staff can help you
with numerous photographic and illustration
requirements.
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We offer a reliable service
ensuring that, with sufficient
notice, your deadlines are met.
As well as printing conference posters up to B0 size on paper
or canvas material, our new large format printer is capable of
producing exhibition quality prints on to gloss or semi-gloss
paper which can then be mounted onto foam board.
If required, your paper posters can be
encapsulated between glossy or matt film.
We also offer an express poster printing
service (“same day” or “overnight”)
which allows you to present your very
latest data at the conference!
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The photographic studio is well equipped to undertake a wide
variety of tasks and provide you with high quality digital files
and prints. We can also arrange to come to your location ideal when student or staff ID photographs are required.
Our modern
reprographic printing machines ensure a high
quality result of all your printed matter - from
student lecture material to training or safety
manuals.
Your Image is Our Business
Contact details:
We have scanners that will scan
35mm slides and negatives up to 5 x 4 inches, and originals up to
A4 size in flatbed and transparency mode.
Chris Green
email: [email protected]
(Facility Manager)
Tel: 01223 333606
Tom Mayle
(Photographer)
email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 333606
Website: www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/photo/?b2013
Cambridge Centre for Proteomics
Cambridge Centre for Proteomics, which is part of the
Cambridge Systems Biology Centre, was established in
2000. Since its inception, CCP has developed into a
world leading facility which has significantly expanded in
its research capabilities and range of instrumentation to
tackle proteomic-based problems. CCP core service
provides researchers within Cambridge University the
facilities to obtain high quality proteomic data using
cutting-edge technologies.
facilities
We currently offer full quantitative analysis on virtually any sample of
any complexity, which includes:
Separation of proteins by means of 1D and 2D gels
Separation of peptides by liquid chromatography
Quantitation by mass spec. methods
(SILAC, isobaric tagging, label free)
Localisation of post-translational and chemical modifications
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Waters Quattro Premier
Each mass spectrometer is coupled to a dedicated nano-LC
system which together, offer superior sensitivity for all forms of
protein identification and quantitation.
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We are situated in the Wellcome Trust Stem Cell building,
which is adjacent to the Biochemistry Sanger
building on Tennis Court road.
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Waters G2 Synapt
AB Sciex 5600 Triple TOF
All experiments include custom Mascot database searching and
any subsequent advice on interpretation of data, if required. As
well as the routine experiments already described, we are also
more than happy to consider custom experiments.
Protein Identification by mass spectrometry
Quantitation using gel-based methods (2D-DIGE)
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Relative Abundance
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CCP has state-of-the art instrumentation which includes five mass
spectrometers
Thermo QExactive
Thermo Orbitrap Velos
Contact details:
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Mike Deery
email: [email protected]
(Facility Manager)
Tel: 01223 760253
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Kathryn Lilley
(Director)
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email: [email protected]
Tel: 01223 760255
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Website: www.bio.cam.ac.uk/proteomics/?b2013
Site Map
Department of Biochemistry
SANGER BUILDING
80 Tennis Court Road
Cambridge
CB2 1GA
Biochemistry
SANGER BUILDING
Tel: 01223 766001
Sanger Reception Open
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
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design by Photography and Graphics, Biochemistry