Liquid handling platform

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467165095

In addition to proteomic expression studies, the analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and post-translational modifications (PTMs) is a particular research focus of the AG Behrends, who is working at the Cluster for Systems Neuroscience (SyNergy) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich on molecular mechanisms that are often thought to be deregulated in neurodegenerative diseases. Sample preparations for mass spectrometry (MS) analyses of such experiments are time-consuming, labor-intensive and error-prone. Therefore, an automated liquid handling platform is requested here to improve reproducibility, sample throughput, and data quality, and to eliminate manual sample preparation as a major bottleneck. The requested instrumentation will be operated by the AG Behrends in a decentralized manner at the SyNergy site of LMU and is an indispensable complement for the future development of the MS units available there. Other working groups at the site such will also have access to this platform. At the time of application, no MS-compatible liquid handling platforms are available at the LMU Campus Großhadern. A comparable platform requested by the Protein Analysis Unit (ZfP) at the LMU Biomedical Center, with a very narrow scope of application to clinical serum proteome studies, is not compatible with the more variable requirements of proteomic PPI and PTM analyses. Taken together, however, the two platforms would cover a complementary spectrum of methods. The aim here is to acquire a compact instrumentation that combines flexible application possibilities with a high demand for reproduction in robust throughput of many samples. In addition to the standard applications in the desalting and fractionation of peptides, the possible applications should also include pipetting-intensive purifications of peptides and proteins using various affinity matrices and paramagnetic, hydrophilic interaction chromatography. A corresponding spatial and personnel infrastructure is already available at the site, which ensures a smooth start-up and guarantees efficient use for the working groups involved in the application.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Flüssigkeit-Handhabungsplattform
• Instrumentation Group: 3190 Sonstige Geräte der Klinischen Chemie und Molekularbiologie
• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Leader: Professor Christian Behrends, Ph.D.