The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases

Proteomics Core Laboratory of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences

 

The IMM is the hub of a new alliance connecting research efforts across the university in systems biology, clinical and translational sciences, protein chemistry, genomics, and proteomics. This new multidisciplinary science will link the efforts of various centers, bringing together people to promote intellectual exchange and the transfer of expertise in these key fields and beyond.

 

Phone 713-500-4556

William Dubinsky, Ph.D., Professor

Dr. William Dubinsky, biochemist and professor of diagnostic sciences at the UTHealth School of Dentistry, leads the Proteomics Core Laboratory of the UTHealth CCTS. This function will be incorporated into the new Centers for Proteomics and Systems Biology for both collaborative and service work. The community of basic and clinical scientists has a real need for proteomics analysis services such as protein identification, analysis of differential expression and posttranslational modifications of proteins as well as analysis and interpretation of results. Until this time the UT/CCTS Proteomics Core has successfully introduced these technologies to researchers within the institution. As the technologies have emerged the core has been limited in resources and informatics capabilities. One of the major problems is the ability of the end user to fully take advantage of the massive amounts of information generated by these new technologies.

The Centers for Proteomics and Systems Biology will create a critical mass of investigators with diverse expertise but a common interest that will benefit the entire research community by providing  technological, informatics and educational resources.

The goal of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) is to facilitate clinical and translational research at the UT Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. The CCTS is one of the original 12 such centers funded by the National Institutes of
Health's Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) in 2006 and provides the resources and advice to move scientific findings into clinical practice faster, to the benefit of patients, their families, and the community.

The Applied Biosystems QStar Elite tandem LC MS/MS, equipped with an LC Packings capillary chromatography system, is used primarily for protein identification and analyses of post translational modifications of peptides. Coupled with offline ion exchange fractionation this system is used extensively for the analysis of protein expression levels in complex mixtures using stable isotopic labeling such as iTRAQ or iCAT technologies. There is also a Perkin Elmer Pro-Tof MALDI Q-ToF located in the Dental Branch. This is a high resolution MALDI instrument that uses a 96 well based plate system that can be used for high throughput protein and peptide profiling.