Centre for Biomolecular Sciences
  

Expertise and Equipment

Please click on each image to find out more about our equipment and expertise:

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Robotic Suite

The SBRC robotic suite is a cutting edge ca. £1M facility designed for high throughput genetic engineering and screening of variants libraries. This highly versatile system is placed within a positive pressure HEPA enclosure and has capacity of up to 341 plates. It can handle a wide range plates in SBS format and can incubate samples in shaking incubators (4oC-50oC) or on the robotic deck (4oC-100oC). The system can perform gene assembly, high-throughput transformation and sample purification using magnetic beads or vacuum based filtration system.

 
  • It can select microbial colonies from an agar plate based on size or colour and screen up to 246 sample plates for absorbance, fluorescence and luminescence.
  • The robotic system is controlled by customised software, which is linked to a database that enables record keeping, sample tracking and user-customised data reporting.
  • The facility is supported by dedicated and fully trained staff and is accessible by UoN research groups.
     
Highfield nmr

High-field NMR facility

The CNS High-field NMR facilty represents ca £4M worth of infastructure.  The facility works  across Schools and facilties (Engineering, vet school, Physics, Food science etc.) and also supports SME, with over 25 active research.projects.  In conjunction with Chemistry there is support from 4 members of staff including 2 PhD spectroscopists.

The facility has also been central in the installation of a helium recycling system that won a Guardian sustainability award ( Background Helium is essential to MRI and NMR, is scarce and mined and with issues in Qatar is under threat again - the facilty provides security of supply and also adds to the sustainability of the technique

 

 

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Confocal Microscope

It is a Zeiss Elyra PS1 and it was an investment of £860k -  it is the only multi-equipped super resolution  microscope in the Midlands - there is only one more in the UK, and not too many in the rest of the world. Similar microscopes exist but they usually have only one of the features.

It can detect very low light from Single fluorescent molecules, and in can be used to image very small things like bacteria, which was previously close to impossible with classical microscopy.

It combines optical knowledge, laser technology and computing to “see” beyond the resolution limit of optical microscopy.

 

 

 

Managed Chemical Compound Collection

Various high-tech machines found within the MCCC

An Affordable & Automated Compound Management Facility at the University of Nottingham

  • Compound Library for High & Medium Throughput Screening
  • >85K Structurally diverse drug-like molecules
  • Lipinski “rule of 5” compliant
  • Library designed to provide the greatest cover of pharmacophore space

Purity Analysis & Structural Confirmation

  • Samples stored at optimum condition as 10mM DMSO stock solutions.
  • Dedicated LC-MS system to ensure purity of compounds

Medicinal & Computation Chemistry Support

  • Collaborative projects welcome

 

For further information please contact:

Dr Michael Stocks; Head of Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Structural Biology

michael.stocks@nottingham.ac.uk

 

 

Centre for Biomolecular Sciences

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

telephone: +44 (0) 115 846 8001
fax: +44 (0) 115 846 8002
email: CBS Enquiries