The Center‘s expertise resides in micro and nanotechnology, sensors, transducers, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), advanced materials, biomedical devices, space and governmental applications.

Core Facility houses 600 MHz Bruker Avance Neo NMR spectrometer available for both collaborative and fee-for-service use. The facility is equipped with a 14.1 T Bruker system and a nitrogen-cooled Prodigy probe, enabling a range of 3D experiments on isotopically labeled biomolecules with enhanced sensitivity for challenging samples. Services include biomolecular structure determination, characterization of biomolecular motions, and stable isotope-resolved metabolomics for studying metabolic pathways.

Core offers recombinant protein expression and purification in E. coli systems to investigators for functional and structural studies. Services include vector construction, expression optimization, protein purification using FPLC, and isotopically labeled protein expression for NMR. Clients can choose from expression strain delivery, optimized protocols, and/or purified protein, with fast turnaround times and consultation throughout the process.

Core Facility provides essential medicinal and organic chemistry support for drug discovery. Core specializes in lead optimization of initial lead compound to improve biological activity and drug-like properties, and to elucidate structure activity relationships. Other services include the design and synthesis of fluorescent and isotopic probes, compound scale up (1 – 5 grams), and custom synthesis.

Core provides structural biology support for UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center (BCC) scientists, with particular emphasis on characterization of biophysical properties of biomolecules (including proteins, peptides, lipids, and polynucleotides) and their interactions with binding partners or novel drug candidates. Offers range of biophysical techniques for both initial screening of lead compound binding as well as rigorous characterization of thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of various biological macromolecules (most commonly proteins and nucleic acids), macromolecular association reactions, and drug-macromolecule interactions. Biophysical techniques include differential scanning fluorimetry, microscale thermophoresis, isothermal titration calorimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, circular dichroism spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, absorbance spectroscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation.

Core offers services including molecular modeling of proteins and nucleic acids, virtual drug screening, computational biophysics.

The facility offers Illumina NextSeq and Ion Torrent PGM Next Generation Sequencing services, as well as gene expression and miRNA expression analysis on the Affymetrix microarray platform. We also provide preliminary data analysis using Partek and Ingenuity/MetaCore software.