Core Facility of Biomolecular Interaction and Crystallization

ABOUT CF BIC:

The core facility provides services leading to biophysical and structural characterization of biomolecules and to study (bio)molecular interactions.  It is equipped with the instrumentation to set up crystallization conditions of biomolecules and their complexes, basic characterization of physical properties of the molecules (analytical ultracentrifugation, analytical size-exclusion chromatography, dynamic light scattering, CD spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, differential scanning fluorimetry), and to study thermodynamics and/or kinetics of interactions (isothermal titration calorimetry, surface plasmon resonance, bio-layer interferometry, microscale thermophoresis, CD spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation).

UNIQUE FEATURES:

• Complementary techniques for molecular interactions studies

• Detailed analysis of macromolecular properties: homogeneity, stability, oligomeric state 

• 16 individual machines utilizing 11 principally different biophysical techniques in one facility

• Set-up of crystallization screens using commercial-available kits

• Automatic inspection of crystals with​ UV imaging to distinguish a protein from a salt

• Complex crystallization services: set-up of optimization screens, estimation of the precipitation diagram, quality improvement of crystals, production of crystals for structural determination

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The Core Facility is part of the Czech national centre of European Research Infrastructure Consortium INSTRUCT ERIC under the Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology (CIISB) funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, and a member of an open pan-European network Association of Resources for Biophysical Research in Europe (ARBRE). The Core Facility is also funded by INTERREG and CIISB4HEALTH projects.

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